My first introduction to Borges was in a collection entitled Labyrinths that I had found in my mother's bookshelf, a remnant from the general ed. English classes that even she admits she does not remember well enough. That particular book has since been lost but I was fortunately able to refamiliarize myself with Borges in a Latin American Lit. class I took as an undergrad (a necessary evil since language requirements prevented me from attending the Medieval lit. class that I had hoped to take. Oh cruel fate!). In that class we had only read the story "The South" but having a chance to look back through Borges stories sparked my memories of two tales that nested very well together called "The Library of Babylon" and "The Garden of Forking Paths."
Reading these stories a second time at a much later date revealed so much more about the author that was not yet available to me intellectually as a high school freshman, though then think I knew that I was missing something under the surface of the narrative.
I think Stephen King (or maybe just his filmmakers) may have clumsily stolen the concept of "The Library of Babylon" for the internalized narrative portions of Dreamcatcher. On a basic level the Library was a tower of six sides that housed bookshelves on its interior and expanded to infinity both above and below. As exciting as this concept sounds to a bibliophile like me where Borges begins to defy our expectations is in descirbing the content of the Library's books. Desribing them here would not do the story justice but suffice it to say that the contents are entirely relative. The concept of this library, ornate and fantastic in my imagination yet infinitely frustrating as well, was a great introduction to the genius of Borges.
"The Garden of Forking Paths" performs a similar function in telling the story of a man expecting to find the eponymous garden yet discovering (though not entirely understanding) that its medium is not soil and seed but pen and paper. I believe this may have been my first introduction to metanarrative. I remember understanding the story for the first time, setting the book down, looking at the wall and feeling somewhat dizzy, then grinning wildly at the startling fact that the book had practically come to life in my hands.
I think it is moments like these that make a lifelong student of literature's pursuits wholy worthwhile. Though that class had introduced us to a number of very fascinating Latin American authors (some of whom I'm sure I will introduce to you soon) in my experience Borges is number 1.
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Borges, Jorge Luis. Ficciones. Ed. Anthony Kerrigan. New York: Grove Press, 1962.
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