SOURCE: “Jorge Luis Borges, Magic Realist,” in Hispanic Review, Vol. 50, No. 4, Autumn, 1982, pp. 411-26.

In the following essay, Menton discusses the works of Jorge Luis Borges and the difference between magic realism and fantastic, or marvelous, literature.

In the epilogue to the 1949 edition of El Aleph, Jorge Luis Borges states that with the exception of “Emma Zunz” and “Historia del guerrero y de la cautiva,” “las piezas de este libro corresponden al género fantástico.”¹ This statement by Borges confirms the axiom that an author's words about his own works may not always be taken at face value. Although some of the stories in the volume do fall into the category of the fantastic, it would be difficult to justify that label for “Biografía de Tadeo Isidoro Cruz (1829-1874),” “La otra muerte,” or “Deutsches Requiem.” However, in order to dispute Borges' statement, the term “género...