In Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings, we encounter a lot of wild and abstract new beings, most that we can picture, and some that we cannot. He uses our concepts of reality, and images that we know to be true (i.e. the elephant), to create new realities—imaginary beings. We have talked in class about how Borges is, in a way, using these stories and beings to make a map. But a map of what?

Much of the characters, if we can call them that, in The Book of Imaginary Beings reminded me a lot of the kinds of things we create in dreams. That is, they are recognizable, and we can almost understand what they are, yet they also possess a dream-like quality that seems too weird or fantastical to be true. By compiling all these stories and odd beings together in one place, it seems to me that Borges is mapping a piece of human imagination. Starting from something we know, he grows his beings into something less recognizable, something we haven’t seen yet. Isn’t that what a map is?

At the same time, I also think Borges’ short book can be seen as very realistic. If we consider, literally, some of the wildlife that exists on Earth right now, some of the “beings” could be more believable. Certain animals and creatures that live deep in the oceans are the best examples of this—if you google “deep ocean wildlife/animals” I guarantee you’ll stumble upon some very wacky and crazy things. So again, while Borges is mapping our imagination and our dreams, I also think he is including some points on the map of real-life things (and maybe things yet to come).