The Immortal
Encyclopedia
"The Immortal" is a short story by noted Argentinian
author Jorge Luis Borges
, first published in the collection El Aleph
in 1949. The story tells about a character who mistakenly achieves immortality
and then, weary of a long life, struggles to lose it and writes an account of his experiences. The story consists of a quote, an introduction, five chapters, and a post script.
's Essays
, LVIII. "Salomon
saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato
had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon
giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion."
The introduction takes place in London
in the first part of June 1929. Herein the following five chapters are purported to have been found in the last of six volumes in small quarto (1715–20) of Alexander Pope
's Iliad
.
The story is an autobiographical tale told by a Roman soldier, Marcus Flaminius Rufus, during the reign of the emperor Diocletian
. During a sleepless night in Thebes, Egypt
, a mysterious man, exhausted and wounded, seeks refuge in his camp. Just before dying, he tells Rufus about a river whose waters bestow immortality on whoever drinks from it. The river is next to a place called the City of the Immortals. Determined to find it, Rufus sets out for Africa with his soldiers. The harsh conditions of the trip cause many of his men to desert. After hearing that the remaining soldiers are planning his death, Rufus flees and wanders through the desert.
Rufus wakes up from a nightmare to find himself tied up in a small recess on the side of the mountain. Down below, he spots a polluted stream and jumps down to drink from it; wounded, he falls asleep. Over the next few days, he begins to explore the area, which he discovers to be the famed City of the Immortals. The city itself is abandoned, but a race of troglodytes, or cave-dwellers, live on the outskirts.
The City of the Immortals is an immense labyrinth with dead-end passages, inverted stairways, and many chaotic architectural structures. Rufus, horrified and repulsed by the city, describes it as "a chaos of heterogeneous words, the body of a tiger or a bull in which teeth, organs and heads monstrously pullulate in mutual conjunction and hatred."
-inspired humanist immortality which revolves around the super-abundant development of the person as an individual. This theme is also developed in The Circular Ruins
, The Garden of Forking Paths
, The Sect of the Phoenix
, and in a sense throughout all of Borges' writing.
Another theme present is the infinite, which can also be found in much of Borges' writing. The constant symbol of the infinite is the labyrinth, which represents a dynamic of personal choice within the infinite permutations of existence. The troglodyte who makes patterns in the sand and the hero (Rufus) who finds himself questing after and achieving immortality should be seen as synonymous, all-encompassing representations of the choosing individual within the infinite flux of the universe's permutations. As such, the infinite represents complete contradiction of the individual and also its validation.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
author Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, first published in the collection El Aleph
El Aleph (book)
The Aleph and Other Stories is a book of short stories by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The title work, "The Aleph", describes an artifact that can reveal the entire universe at once. The work also presents the idea of infinite time...
in 1949. The story tells about a character who mistakenly achieves immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
and then, weary of a long life, struggles to lose it and writes an account of his experiences. The story consists of a quote, an introduction, five chapters, and a post script.
Plot summary
Borges begins by quoting Francis BaconFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
's Essays
Essays (Francis Bacon)
Essayes: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed was the first published book by the philosopher, statesman and jurist Francis Bacon. The Essays are written in a wide range of styles, from the plain and unadorned to the epigrammatic...
, LVIII. "Salomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon
Salomon
Salomon is a form of the given name Solomon. It can refer to:People* Salomon, King of Brittany * Salomon Companies* Salomon Brothers, a former investment bank, now a part of Citigroup...
giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion."
The introduction takes place in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the first part of June 1929. Herein the following five chapters are purported to have been found in the last of six volumes in small quarto (1715–20) of Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
's Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
.
The story is an autobiographical tale told by a Roman soldier, Marcus Flaminius Rufus, during the reign of the emperor Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
. During a sleepless night in Thebes, Egypt
Thebes, Egypt
Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...
, a mysterious man, exhausted and wounded, seeks refuge in his camp. Just before dying, he tells Rufus about a river whose waters bestow immortality on whoever drinks from it. The river is next to a place called the City of the Immortals. Determined to find it, Rufus sets out for Africa with his soldiers. The harsh conditions of the trip cause many of his men to desert. After hearing that the remaining soldiers are planning his death, Rufus flees and wanders through the desert.
Rufus wakes up from a nightmare to find himself tied up in a small recess on the side of the mountain. Down below, he spots a polluted stream and jumps down to drink from it; wounded, he falls asleep. Over the next few days, he begins to explore the area, which he discovers to be the famed City of the Immortals. The city itself is abandoned, but a race of troglodytes, or cave-dwellers, live on the outskirts.
The City of the Immortals is an immense labyrinth with dead-end passages, inverted stairways, and many chaotic architectural structures. Rufus, horrified and repulsed by the city, describes it as "a chaos of heterogeneous words, the body of a tiger or a bull in which teeth, organs and heads monstrously pullulate in mutual conjunction and hatred."
Analysis
The Immortal deals with several themes which are present throughout much of Borges' writing; one such theme is immortality. Borges' conception of immortality assumes various manifestations throughout his writing and even in this clearly titled piece of work, it is not clear exactly who is meant to be the immortal. On one hand, it is clearly pointed to that Rufus is searching for the city of the immortals and therefore the being that he finds there must in fact be the immortal. However, it can also be said, without too subtle of an insight, that Rufus becomes the immortal once he embarks upon his journey. In this sense, Borges' immortality has to do with a NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
-inspired humanist immortality which revolves around the super-abundant development of the person as an individual. This theme is also developed in The Circular Ruins
The Circular Ruins
"The Circular Ruins" is a fantasy short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. Published in the literary journal Sur in December 1940, it was included in the 1941 collection The Garden of Forking Paths and then in part one of the 1944 collection Ficciones...
, The Garden of Forking Paths
The Garden of Forking Paths
"The Garden of Forking Paths" is a 1941 short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. It is the title story in the collection El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan , which was republished in its entirety in Ficciones in 1944...
, The Sect of the Phoenix
The Sect of the Phoenix
"The Sect of the Phoenix" is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, first published in Sur in 1952. It was included in the 1956 edition of Ficciones, part two...
, and in a sense throughout all of Borges' writing.
Another theme present is the infinite, which can also be found in much of Borges' writing. The constant symbol of the infinite is the labyrinth, which represents a dynamic of personal choice within the infinite permutations of existence. The troglodyte who makes patterns in the sand and the hero (Rufus) who finds himself questing after and achieving immortality should be seen as synonymous, all-encompassing representations of the choosing individual within the infinite flux of the universe's permutations. As such, the infinite represents complete contradiction of the individual and also its validation.