"The Aleph" is a short story by the Argentinean writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. It is one of the stories in the book The Aleph, first published in 1949, and revised by the author in 1974. Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. ... In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Motto En unión y libertad(Spanish) In Union and Freedom Anthem Himno Nacional Argentino Capital (and largest city) Buenos Aires Official languages Spanish Government Federal republic  -  President Néstor Kirchner  -  Vice President Daniel Scioli Independence from Spain   -  May Revolution 25 May 1810   -  Declared 9 July 1816   -  Recognized 1821 (by... Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. ... El Aleph (1949) is a book of short stories (one of them named after the title) by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. ... See also: 1948 in literature, other events of 1949, 1950 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1973 in literature, other events of 1974, 1975 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

Plot summary

In Borges's story, the Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously, without distortion, overlapping or confusion. The story continues the theme of infinity found in several of Borges's other works, such as "The Book of Sand". The Universe is defined as the summation of all particles and energy that exist and the space-time in which all events occur. ... The infinity symbol ∞ in several typefaces. ... The Book of Sand (El libro de arena) is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges. ...

As in many of Borges's short stories, the protagonist is a fictionalized version of the author. At the beginning of the story, he is mourning the recent death of a woman whom he loved, named Beatriz Viterbo, and resolves to stop by the house of her family to pay his respects. Over time, he comes to know her first cousin, Carlos Argentino Daneri, a mediocre poet with a vastly exaggerated view of his own talent who has made it his lifelong quest to write an epic poem that describes every single location on the planet in excruciatingly fine detail. A protagonist is the main figure of a piece of literature or drama and has the main part or role. ...

Later in the story, a business on the same street attempts to tear down Daneri's house in the course of its expansion. Daneri becomes enraged, explaining to Borges that he must keep the house in order to finish his poem, because the cellar contains an Aleph which he is using to write it. Though by now he believes Daneri to be quite insane, Borges consents to come to the house and see the Aleph for himself.

Left alone in the darkness of the cellar, Borges begins to fear that Daneri is conspiring to kill him, and then he sees the Aleph for himself.

"Under the step, toward the right, I saw a small iridescent sphere of almost unbearable brightness. At first I thought it was spinning; then I realized that the movement was an illusion produced by the dizzying spectacles inside it. The Aleph was probably two or three centimeters in diameter, but universal space was contained within it, with no diminution in size. Each thing (the glass surface of a mirror, let us say) was infinite things, because I could clearly see it from every point in the cosmos. I saw the populous sea, saw dawn and dusk, saw the multitudes of the Americas, saw a silvery spiderweb at the center of a black pyramid, saw a broken labyrinth (it was London), saw endless eyes, all very close, studying themselves in me as though in a mirror, saw all the mirrors on the planet (and none of them reflecting me), saw in a rear courtyard on Calle Soler the same tiles I'd seen twenty years before in the entryway of a house on Fray Bentos, saw clusters of grapes, snow, tobacco, veins of metal, water vapor, saw convex equatorial deserts and their every grain of sand...."

Though staggered by the experience of seeing the Aleph, Borges pretends to have seen nothing in order to get revenge on Daneri, whom he hates, by giving him reason to doubt his own sanity.

In a postscript to the story, Borges explains that Daneri's house was ultimately demolished, but that Daneri himself won second place in the Argentine National Prize for Literature. He also states his belief that the Aleph in Daneri's house was not the only one that exists, based on a report he has discovered by a British consul describing the Amr mosque in Cairo, within which there is said to be a stone pillar that contains the entire universe; although this Aleph cannot be seen, it is said that those who put their ear to the pillar can hear it.

Notes

• Aleph or Alef, א, is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the number 1 in Hebrew also; its esoteric meaning in Judaic Kabbalah, as denoted in the theological treaty Sefer-ha-Bahir, relates to the origin of the universe, the "primordial one that contains all numbers".

• In mathematics, aleph numbers denote the cardinality (or size) of infinite sets. This relates to the theme of infinity present in Borges's story.

• In one version of the story of the Golem, from Jewish mythology, writing the letter aleph on the Golem's forehead is what brings it to life.

• This story is one of several which display Borges's fascination with Judaism; other such stories include "Death and the Compass", "The Secret Miracle", and his poem "The Golem".

• Borges writes in the collection's afterword that the story owes something to H. G. Wells' The Crystal Egg

• The science fiction novel Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson contains a device called an "aleph" that is described as an approximation of the entirety of cyberspace.

Aleph ‎ is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, together with Arabic descended from Phoenician . Its original sound value was a glottal stop. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Kabbalah (Hebrew: ‎, Tiberian: , Qabbālāh, Israeli: Kabala) literally means receiving, in the sense of a received tradition, and is sometimes transliterated as Cabala, Kabbala, Qabalah, or other permutations. ... In the branch of mathematics known as set theory, the aleph numbers are a sequence of numbers used to represent the cardinality (or size) of infinite sets. ... In mathematics, the cardinality of a set is a measure of the number of elements of the set. There are two approaches to cardinality – one which compares sets directly using bijections and injections, and another which uses cardinal numbers. ... For instances of Golem in popular culture, see Golem in popular culture. ... Jewish mythology is a body of stories that explains or symbolizes Jewish beliefs. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Christopher Eccleston as Red Scharlach/Zunz Death and the Compass is British director Alex Coxs second Mexican feature (the first was El Patrullero), made in 1996. ... The Secret Miracle is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... The Crystal Egg is a short story written by H. G. Wells in 1897. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... NAKAYUBI (ナカユビ; Middle Finger) Buster Zangai -Shape2- (残骸 -Shape2-; Wreck -Shape2-) Limbo Mona Lisa Girl (Shape 2) Sid Vicious on the Beach Black Cherry Genzai (原罪; Original Sin) Monster Ai no uta (愛ノ歌; Love Song Continuous Information Mona Lisa OVERDRIVE was named after the 1989 novel Mona Lisa Overdrive, by William Gibson. ... William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born science fiction author resident in Canada since 1968. ... It has been suggested that Virtual world be merged into this article or section. ...

External links

• English translation by Norman Thomas Di Giovanni at the Wayback Machine.