Adam Rosenkranz

11/8/10
IRB Project

The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges

The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges

“O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a King of

infinite space.”
-Hamlet, Act II scene ii

Plot Summary:

The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges starts off with him mourning the

death of a woman whom he loved, Beatriz. Every year on the

anniversary of her death he pays his respects by visiting her 1st cousin,

Carlos Argentino Daneri. He is a mediocre poet whose goal is to write

an epic poem with every detail of every place on the earth in great

detail. He knows a secret about the house that will help him with his

goal. In the cellar, there is a point that contains all other points, 2-3

centimeters in diameter, that shows everything that ever happened,

will happen, or is happening anywhere in the world, from every angle

at the same time, with no distortion, confusion, or overlap. This is

called The Aleph. The narrator is invited over to see the Aleph. But he

hates Carlos Argentino. He does indeed see it, and instead of telling

him how great it was, he tells him he saw it but it was nothing special,

giving Carlos Argentino Daneri to doubt his sanity and turn mad to get

revenge.
Alternate ending(s):

But I could not come to terms with the fact that the features of

Beatriz will erode in my memory. I had to go back. I had to see her

again and possess the Aleph. This thought was eating me alive the

entire year, and then came April 30th. It was the day to visit that house

again. I called Carlos Argentino to inform him on my plans to visit. We

have not spoken since my Aleph experience. Carlos Argentino Daneri

was also been driven mad because he knew the Aleph was real. Since

every year I visit, I go later each time it was past dinnertime. We had

wine and we spoke. I asked him if he would let visit the cellar and see

the Aleph again. He accepted and we descended to the cellar, laid

down, focused on the nineteenth step of the proverbial staircase, and

waited. It finally came, but this time the experience was much more

meaningful. The instant of infinite lasted infinitely longer. I saw all the

parallel universes and I saw all the possible endings to the same story.

I saw myself killing Carlos Argentino for possession of the Aleph.

The Aleph meant everything to me, that I could see Beatriz whenever I

wanted. I was obsessed with the notion that Beatriz was still there, that

I could see her everywhere from every angle every second. I came up

from the cellar, and in my coat I had brought with me a vial of poison. I

told him how great the experience was and what I saw, and we had

coffee, since it was autumn and getting cold in Argentina, he went to

work the fireplace. I then poured the vial in his coffee, which mixed
perfectly with the coffee; it almost seemed too good to be true. And

just like that, in a few moments, he died. The Aleph was mine.

I saw myself dying in front of the Aleph from Carlos Argentino

Daneri poisoning my drink. He wanted to keep everyone from knowing

about the mystical Aleph, and to help him finish his poems; he could

not have trusted anybody, not even me. He had his maid slip poison

into the wine and had me drink it, I should have accounted for his

insisting on me drinking more, and his devious smirk, but I did not. I

descended into the cellar, and saw the Aleph, but it was not as clear.

Instead it was foggy and shimmering, I started sweating, then just like

that, my conscious slipped.

I saw the house being demolished, and that Aleph being lost

forever. Carlos Argentino Daneri crying profusely, that his life-long

home was lost, that his Aleph was lost. And my portal to Beatriz was

lost, which lead to my bleak and unmeaning death after that.

I observed a most peculiar episode, I apparently I saw the Aleph,

and told Carlos Argentino that it was not so great, and left quickly. I

went on to write a book about my stories and this youngster, in 2010,

named Adam Rosenkranz read it and decided to write alternate

endings to my story. He wrote it for his English class to Mr. Fischbeck. I

have no idea why my mind retained those details so well.