"The central problem of novel-writing is causality"
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Borges drops the gauntlet with the calm menace of someone who’s already dismantled the library. Calling causality the “central problem” of novel-writing sounds almost technical, but it’s a philosophical prank: the novel pretends to mirror life, yet life doesn’t come with chapter breaks or clean motivations. Narrative, by contrast, is a machine for making events look inevitable. The novelist’s real job isn’t inventing characters or even plots; it’s manufacturing the feeling that A had to lead to B, that the world could not have unfolded otherwise.
For Borges, that’s less a craft tip than a critique of realism’s confidence. Causality is where the lie lives. The moment a novelist chooses one explanation over another, they install a hidden metaphysics: a theory of why people act, how history turns, what counts as a cause rather than noise. Borges, who spent a career writing labyrinths, counterfeit texts, and stories that fold back on themselves, is allergic to the comforting tyranny of linear consequence. His fictions often expose how easily “because” becomes a narrative convenience, a sleight of hand that converts coincidence into destiny.
The context matters: Borges writes in the shadow of modernism, psychoanalysis, and a 20th century that made “rational” historical causation feel both urgent and bankrupt. When wars and ideologies claim necessity, Borges answers with literature’s suspicion: the clean chain of causes may be the most persuasive fiction of all.
For Borges, that’s less a craft tip than a critique of realism’s confidence. Causality is where the lie lives. The moment a novelist chooses one explanation over another, they install a hidden metaphysics: a theory of why people act, how history turns, what counts as a cause rather than noise. Borges, who spent a career writing labyrinths, counterfeit texts, and stories that fold back on themselves, is allergic to the comforting tyranny of linear consequence. His fictions often expose how easily “because” becomes a narrative convenience, a sleight of hand that converts coincidence into destiny.
The context matters: Borges writes in the shadow of modernism, psychoanalysis, and a 20th century that made “rational” historical causation feel both urgent and bankrupt. When wars and ideologies claim necessity, Borges answers with literature’s suspicion: the clean chain of causes may be the most persuasive fiction of all.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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