Knives, Vendettas, Bifurcations

Abstract Detective fiction appears in Borges’s work in several ways: in the reading experience; in his activities as an editor, anthologist, and reviewer; and in the formulation of a set of rules and characterizations of the genre. It is present in his own work as well as in his work in collaboration with Adolfo Bioy Casares. Borges identified the general origins of detective fiction then dismantled and reconstructed them, transforming the usual searches for clues and deciphering of mysteries into a rigorous textual geometry. His enigmas take the form of theoretical discussions about the literary craft, the dilemmas of time and temporality, and the dialogue between fiction and history. Contrary to the construction of literary formulas, which certain critics tend to associate with the history of the genre, stories such as “Hombre de la esquina rosada” [Man on Pink Corner], “El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan” [The Garden of Forking Paths], “Emma Zunz,” “La muerte y la brújula” [Death and the Compass], and “Abenjacán el Bojarí, muerto en su laberinto” [Ibn Hakkan al-Bokhari, Dead in His Labyrinth], among others, are not limited to the mere identification of a murderer or the motive of a crime; they go beyond the confines of the genre and suggest a theoretical understanding of fiction as a rereading and rational construction—simultaneously historical and imaginative—of the world.