Michael Lampasona

The first time that I read through this story, I found it quite confusing to exactly get the stories message. After reading through the second time, it became apparent that the story was about the imaginary world of Tlon, which is located on the lands of Uqbar and Orbis Tertius.

The story begins by describing the struggle to find Uqbar, and how information regarding it was finally found in an encyclopedia. As the story progresses, the reader learns more about the imaginary world of Tlon on Uqbar, which seems almost like some sort of alternate reality. Nouns do not exist, and it seems as if everything is interconnected and idealistic. The story also states that on Tlon, concepts like time do not exist.

At the end of the story, it seems like Borges is criticising a society where everyone is plain and the same. The postscript addresses concern that the real world is turning into this totalitarian state. I think this is because during this time period World War II was taking place, and the Axis powers were totalitarian.

Kristy Medina

"Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a really interesting short story. It, similar to "Et Certa" breaks off into sections but this is very different in that it is all one cohesive story. At first I had no idea what the title meant, what it was and how it related. The second section is where we find out what each really is. First I thought of it as a relam and thenI found out they are planets. These planets are filled with chaos. There is unknown mythology. It seems like one big fantacy Jorge Luis Borges created. It was fun and interesting, almost like a childrens book, yet sophisticated because it made me think of some of the characteristics the planet Tlon had. For example, the plant doesn't have parrallel lines and language is not understandable. And briefly, it makes you think if that's even possible. The short story goes into more charaacteristics of the planet like the language to psychology to philosophy to geometry to books and literature. In the end I wondered it Borges was imagining a perfect world.

John Bonhomme

Tion, Uqbar, and Orbis Tertius is a story about a self envisioned land. Jorge Borges has a niche with playing God or tyring to spin off God's power in some way. This is Jorge Borges himself using his power as an author to simulate God writing the earth. In this case however Jorge Borge creates his own mystical land. This mystical world is called Tion. The planet which Jorge creates is called Orbis Tertius and the country is Uqbar. The universe however was hidden beneath copies of Encyclopedia Britannica only known about by a couple of historians. This is like a story relating to God and the apostles. The encyclopedia's are like the bible, and its secrets because only he followers believe it. I think anyone who really wants to find this universe will find it, just like anyone who is looking for their faith will find it. This story is really interesting to compare with Christianity and all of its correlations.