Borges from the fictional turn: a proposal for the didactics of contemporary translation through four short stories

Abstract

Jorge Luis Borges is without a doubt one of the key figures in Hispanic literature and one of the most remarkable names in world literature. The aesthetic, thematic and philosophical complexity of his extensive work has encouraged scholars from all over the world to pay constant attention at his fictions, his essays and his poetic work. In addition, since the end of the last millennium there has been a growing interest in the link between the author and translation (be it his work as a translator, the complex exercise of translating his works, or his avant-garde theoretical perspective on the profession). Waisman, Kristal, Arrojo, Gentzler, Vieira, Vidal, Burnett and Bassnett among many others have tried to highlight the relevance of Borges' words in the contemporary research vanguard. The irruption at the end of the last millennium of the fictional turn of translation allows us to study the author as a precursor of contemporary translation theories and to revalue his work from a didactic approach.