The Aleph

“The same sweltering morning that Beatriz Viterbo died, after an imperious confrontation with her illness in which she had never for an instant stooped to either sentimentality or fear, I noticed that a new advertisement for some cigarettes or other (blondes, I believe they were) had been posted on the iron billboards of the Plaza Constitucion.”

This long sentence, the very first of the story, reveals a wealth of information about Beatriz and juxtaposes her death with a sense of stark banality—the inclusion of the brand of cigarette lends a touch of verisimilitude to heighten this effect. This sense of mortal helplessness, of the universe moving beyond the death of a loved one, inspires Borges’s visits.

“He holds some sort of subordinate position in an illegible library in the outskirts toward the south of the city; he is authoritarian, though also ineffectual […] His mental activity is constant, passionate, versatile, and utterly insignificant. He is full of pointless analogies and scruples. He has (as Beatriz did) large, beautiful, slender hands.”

Borges introduces both the character of Argentino as well as his own misgivings about the man. Argentino is, by this description, a portrait of mediocrity, with some access to culture (the clue about some “illegible library”), and a half-hearted belief system. The term “authoritarian” suggests he might be sympathetic to the growing fascist movement in Argentina. The first note of tension between them is plucked by the description of his hands, which resemble those of Beatriz.

“So witless did these ideas strike me as being, so sweeping and pompous the way they were expressed, that I associated them immediately with literature.”

The narrator makes clear what he thinks of Argentino. More importantly, he clues readers in on his thoughts about literature. The fact that Borges (the character) is a writer adds to his complexity. He is a writer who seems not to respect literature.