Janie Cherestal

I enjoyed reading Borges’ “The Other” because the aspect of someone meeting the past version of themselves was pretty interesting and gave the story a supernatural twist. I felt that the fact that Borges was able to develop such a complex story such as this one proves the kind of intelligence he possessed. I was disappointed that Borges did not meet up with his past self at the end of the story because I was very curious to know whether or not the entire encounter was just a figment of the imagination, as had the young Borges speculated, or reality. Although I never learned if this was a actual incident, I enjoyed the contrast Borges created between the consciousnesses of the past and present, and between reality and the imagination.

Kristy Medin

Well, first, why is the title of this section "The Book of Sand?" I would guess something but I really have no idea and would be making false inferences. But to the stories: "The Other" is such a weird story about how Jorge Luis Borges meets another Jorge Luis Borges. At first you think it's him talking to himself, making conversation, bored, schizophrenic, whatever. Next you think that it is Borges at different points of his life. For example, it is Borges at the present and then a "visit" of Borges at the future. Then you keep reading and Borges himself is confused which is kind of comical. It was interesting in the sense that the older Borges knew the current Borges's future. They were talking about how many books Borges will write and that was cool. The he talks about alter egos which made it confusing because you were thinking about 4 different Borge's. It made me think about what I would ask myself if I could ever talk to myself from the future. But, then of course, Borge's "twist" in the end of the short story where can be interpreted that the Borges (younger) was visiting the Borges (older).