Representation of Multiverse in Jorge Luis Borges’ “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertuis”

Abstract

This study concerns "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," the first story of Ficciones, widely regarded as one of Borges' most important works. Divided into three parts, the story begins with an unnamed narrator—often assumed to be a fictionalized version of Borges himself who, together with a friend, Adolfo Bioy-Casares, discovers a mysterious article about a country called Uqbar, a country they have never heard of before. Even more mysterious is that this article is only present in Casares' copy of the encyclopedia, which is a pirated edition of the tenth edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica called the Anglo-American Cyclopaedia. The article details the history and geography of this unknown country, noting that its literature is fantastic, and its legends are always about the imaginary realms of Mlejnas and Tlön. Towards the end of the discussion, The reader knows one of Tlön's most peculiar aspects, the hrönir. The hrönir are duplicates of lost original objects, brought forth by hope and expectation. These copies are not perfect; they are slightly different, perhaps awkwardly so. Finally, an added postscript is famously dated seven years in the future.