Fitzgerald and Borges: The desire for the absolute

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

5 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

06/04/2009

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Literature

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Summary :

Introduction
The Great Gatsby
Borges and 'El Aleph'
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

F. Scott fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Jorge Luis borges’s “El Aleph” can be said to share a structural framework or paradigm which takes the form of a paradox. This paradox concerns the fact that desire is at once finite, because it becomes substantialized in an object, and infinite, because it necessarily exceeds its objects, and any possible object. The experience of this paradox, when carried to the limit, is aporetic, where an aporia is a paradox which cannot be sustained, as continuation is impossible. Specifically, it becomes an aporia when it posits what I will call an absolute object and imagines that this object can be attained. The finitude of subjects and objects of desire may not render it impossible to sustain the desire for an absolute object, but they do render it impossible to attain or possess it.