| "The Garden of Forking Paths" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Jorge Luis Borges | |
 Collection first edition | |
| Original title | El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan |
| Translator | Anthony Boucher |
| Country | Argentina |
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre(s) | Spy fiction, war fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan (1941) Ficciones (1944) |
| Publisher | Editorial Sur |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | 1941 |
| Published in English | 1948 |
"The Garden of Forking Paths" (original Spanish title: "El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan") 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 (1941), which was republished in its entirety in Ficciones (Fictions) in 1944. It was the first of Borges's works to be translated into English by Anthony Boucher when it appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in August 1948. In 1958 it was translated back into English by Donald A. Yates and published in Michigan Alumnus Quarterly Review, Spring 1958. In 1962 this translation was included in the book Labyrinths (New Directions).
The story's theme has been said to foreshadow the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.[1][2] It may have been inspired by work of the philosopher and science fiction author Olaf Stapledon.[1]
Borges's vision of "forking paths" has been cited as inspiration by numerous new media scholars, in particular within the field of hypertext fiction.[3][4][5] Other stories by Borges that explore the idea of infinite texts include "The Library of Babel" and "The Book of Sand".[3]
- ^ a b Moran, Dominic (2012). "Borges and the Multiverse: Some Further Thoughts". Bulletin of Spanish Studies. 89 (6): 925–942. doi:10.1080/14753820.2012.712326. ISSN 1475-3820. S2CID 170301710.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Wardrip-Fruin, Noah, and Nick Montfort, eds. The New Media Reader. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.
- ^ Bolter, Jay David; Joyce, Michael (1987). "Hypertext and Creative Writing". Hypertext '87 Papers. ACM. pp. 41–50.
- ^ Moulthrop, Stuart (1991). "Reading From the Map: Metonymy and Metaphor in the Fiction of 'Forking Paths'". In Delany, Paul; Landow, George P. (eds.). Hypermedia and Literary Studies. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press. ISBN 9780585354446.