Magical Realism and the Sublime in The Circular Ruins Essay

Magical Realism and the Sublime in The Circular Ruins Among the many short stories that the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges has written, The Circular Ruins was published in 1964 in a collection of his works entitled Labyrinths: Selected Stories Other Writings. Even though The Circular Ruins may be classified as a Magical Realist text, one may wonder if this short story could be classified as the Sublime as well. By examining The Circular Ruins, a reader will be able to see several similarities between Magical Realism and the Sublime. Of course, the first step in deciding whether or not The Circular Ruins is a type of the Sublime is to look at some of the characteristics of the Sublime. For instance,†¦show more content†¦Since the main character is said to have come from the South where the Zend tongue is not contaminated with Greek and where leprosy is infrequent, then his origin seems to be quite real (Borges 45). Another real element is the setting, which is not in some other realm but instead at a temple in the jungle. However, the magical element of the dreams hints to the reader that the main character is not from a normal background and that the story is probably just in an imaginary jungle. Yet, both the reader and the characters in the story accept these unreal elements as being real. Because of the cross between the real and the unreal, Magical Realism, like the Sublime, causes transcendence. According to Longinus, another identifying mark of the Sublime is the use of accumulations, which are also found in The Circular Ruins. For example, before the magician dreamt his entire son, he first dreamt his sons beating heart. Over a period of fourteen nights, he carefully examined this heart until he actually touched it with his finger. After that, he dreamt another organ in the same manner. Eventually, he even dreamt the eyelids and hair. After finally accumulating all the parts of the boy, the magicians son was complete and ready to become accustomed to reality (Borges 47-49). Identical to the Sublimes characteristic of accumulation in The Circular Ruins is Magical Realisms characteristic of an extensive