Katherine Tesi

The two short stories that were presented on Thursday April 23rd were Borges’ “The House of Asterion” and “The Zahir”. “The House of Asterion” was a short story about the Greek mythological character, the Minotaur, told from his perspective. The narrator, the Minotaur (half man, half bull), gives a brief history of the Greek myth and begins the story by explaining how he lives within a labyrinth. Throughout the short story Asterion (the Minotaur) speaks of his perception of his life. He views his home as a prison and it upsets him that he never has visitors. He plays games with himself to stay entertained. The only visitors that ever arrive are nine men who visit every nine years so Asterion can deliver them from evil. The story ends with Theseus, the Kind of Athens speaking with his wife Ariadne, and explaining how Asterion hadn’t “scarcely defended himself” when Theseus killed him. Borges’ story displays the Minotaur in a far more sympathetic light and as more of a “hero” than in other stories. On a more technical note, Borges has rewritten Greek Mythology into a Spanish short story which can be considered intertextuality.
In the second story, “The Zahir”, Borges focuses on the idea of obsession and the perception of reality. A zahir is explained to be an object or person that upon seeing it causes complete and total obsession eventually leading to no perception of reality. Borges is the narrator and main character within this story, and is the one affected by the zahir within the story. The zahir takes the form of a Buenos Aires twenty centavo coin and after attending the funeral of a model he had loved, Borges goes to a bar where he is given the coin in his change. That night he dreams of money and the following day Borges goes to a bar to get rid of the coin. He immediately realizes the obsession that begins to overwhelm him and tries to write a fantastical story to distract himself. The focus of his story includes the narrator trying to protect an infinite treasure from human greed. The narrator cuts his own fathers throat in the treasure’s protection. His obsession continues and he sees a psychiatrist which doesn’t help. He begins reading about the zahir to understand its powers better. Borges begins to realize he’s going crazy and loosing sight of reality. The definition of the zahir that is given within the story is that it’s “the shadow of the rose and the rending of the veil”. A rose can be a symbol for the beloved and for God and the definition can be interpreted to mean that once the veil or in this case the zahir, is removed from one’s life, they can see God. This story incorporates not only a few outside literary sources like “1001 Nights” but also a very strong religious influence. Repetition is a constant throughout the text (often found within religious prayer as well) and the idea of loosing sight of oneself to see God is the main idea within the story.