A close Reading/critique of Jorge Luis Boges short story the theme of the traitor and the hero in his book collected fictions Free Essay Example, 1500 words

Because of its great length compared to a single lifespan, human beings have never observed this greater year and have no name for it (39d). So far Plato. But, in the centuries intervening between Plato and Yeats, the idea took on a life of its own (Mann). It became associated with the Hesiodic ages of mythological history (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron), and with the precession of the equinoxes (the apparent motion of the whole celestial sphere imparted by a slight wobble of the earths rotation, not known until centuries after Platos time), and with apocalyptic ideas of world ages in human history and their repetition; their exact repetition, so that another Argo will sail, Achilles will be born and die again (as described in Vergils Fourth Eclogue). By Yeats time, all of this had been mixed with modern historiography and Christian myth into a Theosophical, occultist mishmash of determinism, cycle, and apocalyptic. By invoking this overgrown theme through his quotation, Bo rges establishes the themes of determinism and inevitability moving through the ages for his narrative. Borges begins his story by telling the reader that he is not writing a story. We will write a custom essay sample on A close Reading/critique of Jorge Luis Boges' short story the theme of the traitor and the hero in his book collected fictions or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page