The Postmodernism Features In Borges’s Fictions

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges has been honored as “the writer’s writer”.Situated at the threshold between modernist and postmodernist literature,he was a great witness and practicer of western literature view in the 20 th century.Based on Borges’ s collected fictions,this thesis will clarify their poetic and content features of postmodernism and explore their postmodern significance in philosophy.Thereby the close relationship between Borges and postmodernism and his identity as the pioneer of postmodernism is clearly presented.This thesis begins with an exposition of the emergence and main features of postmodernism thought and the poetic features and content characteristics of postmodern literature.It then analyzes the postmodernism features of Borges’ s fictions in terms of formal experimentation,for example,his use of metafiction and nested narratives in the narrative form,as well as the the use of parody and collage as language games.Next,this thesis analyzes the postmodernism features of Borges fictions in terms of content,such as the creation of various postmodernist anti-heroes,represented by the Argentinean Gaucho and by the underclass characters who aim to “pursue eternity”.As for subject matter,the blurring of the boundaries between history and fiction,and between reality and magic,made a mishmash of various literary genres in his fictions.Finally,this thesis explores Borges’ s philosophical thoughts from his view of time and self-knowledge as expressed in his fictions,and finds that time is not a simple linear movement but a circular,branching circular time or a parallel time in space,while Borges’ s thinking about the self manifests as a focus on identity,sometimes its inconsistency and duality.Thus,this thesis argues that although Borges’ s creation began before the whole postmodernism literary trend,his fictions embody obvious postmodernism characteristics and provide a model for the subsequent development of postmodern literature.