''Historia de la eternidad'' (in English: ''A History of Eternity'') is the first essay book published by Argentine author

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

, in 1936 (editio princeps).

Content

In the essay after which the book is titled, which is complemented by two others (''La doctrina de los ciclos'', in English: ''Cycles' doctrine'', and ''El tiempo circular'', in English: ''Circular time''), the author contemplates the issues of time and

eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempit ...

, from

platonic Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called Platonic or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole. It ...

, Christian and

nietzschean Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) developed his philosophy during the late 19th century. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Arthur Schopenhauer's ''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'' (''The World as Will and Represe ...

perspectives. As Borges himself states in the book's prologue, eternity In the essays titled ''Los Kenningar'' (in English: ''The Kenningars'') and ''La metáfora'' (in English: ''Metaphor''), Borges analyzes that poetic resource, particularly from the point of view of the ancient Germanic

epics The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is a set of software tools and applications used to develop and implement distributed control systems to operate devices such as particle accelerators, telescopes and other large sci ...

. By comparing metaphors present in the ancient Icelandic sagas with later ones, we can observe how the same ones are repeated from one culture to another: In ''Los traductores de Las Mil y Una Noches'' (in English: ''The translators of One Thousand and One Nights'') the author discusses the different old versions of the celebrated collection of oriental stories. The book is completed by one of the Borges' most noted essay-stories, which also appears in his acclaimed ''

Ficciones ' (in English: "Fictions") is a collection of short stories by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, originally written and published in Spanish between 1941 and 1956. Thirteen stories from ''Ficciones'' were first published by New Dire ...

'': ''El acercamiento a Almotásim'' (in English: ''

The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" (original Spanish title: "El acercamiento a Almotásim") is a fantasy short story written in 1935 by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. In his autobiographical essay, Borges wrote about "The Approach to Al-Mu'tas ...

''), and a short and tasteful review of satiric literature and classical insults (''El arte de injuriar'', in English: ''The Art of Insulting'').

Essays

*''Historia de la eternidad'' (''A history of eternity'') *''Las kenningar'' (''The Kenningars'') *'' La metáfora'' (''Metaphor'') *'' La doctrina de los ciclos'' (''Cycles' doctrine'') *'' El tiempo circular'' (''Circular time'') *Los traductores de las mil y una noches (''The translators of One Thousand and One Nights''): :*''El capitán Burton'' (''Captain Burton'') :*''El doctor Mardrus'' (''Doctor Mardrus'')l :*''Enno Littmann'' *Two Notes: :*''El acercamiento a Almotásim'' (''

'') (short story) :*''El arte de injuriar'' (''The art of insulting'')

Notes

1936 non-fiction books Works by Jorge Luis Borges Essay collections Argentine non-fiction books {{Argentina-book-stub

Content

Essays

See also

Notes