Borges y la tradición metafórica

Abstract

Borges dijo en 1945 que hablar era metaforizar y toda su vida se dedicó, desde su obra creativa, desde su obra crítica, desde sus comparecencias públicas, académicas o extraacadémicas, a demostrarnos que no hay diferencia entre lenguaje literal y lenguaje figurativo; ambos son vanos intentos de apalabrar una realidad siempre inasible. Su postura se instala en una tradición crítica que se inicia en Cicerón y llega a nuestros días.

In 1945 Borges stated that to speak was to metaphorize and all his life he strove —through his creative works, his critical writings, his academic and extra-academic public appearances— to demonstrate to his readers that there is no difference between literal and figurative language: in both cases they are merely vain attempts to render into words an ever inaccessible reality. His point o view was set within a cultural tradition which was initiated with Cicero and reaches down to our own days.