This thesis is concerned with the material nature of the text in Borges’ short stories. The context of this study stems from Borges’ gravitation towards the use of textual references, his quest for the “original,” and his view of literature and reading as exercises of re-creation. In each of Borges’ works, lies an object that encapsulates the essence of the story, and that fills it with significance; one that establishes a direct contact between reality and fiction.
Part I explores the discipline of bibliography, semiotics, hermeneutics and semantics and the role they play in the creation, transmission and interpretation of the text-object. Part II describes the different transformations of the borgesian text-object, from how it is produced (or can produce), to how it establishes an intertextual, psychological and physiological relationship with the subject. Part III analyses the inscription of text in various physical spaces and surfaces such as paper, dreams and memory, fluid substances, architectural spaces and structures, as well as the body. Finally, Part IV studies the translation of the borgesian text-object in the virtual and electronic space.