[monjaro]

This is utter nonsense. García Márquez wrote some of the most compelling and beautiful stories of the 20th century. Borges wrote the literary equivalent of late night stoner conversations, covering up a lack of substance with erudition.

I don't deny that the Nobel Prize can be political, but García Márquez was one of the most deserving recipients.

[CamperBob2]

Yeah, that must be why entire philosophy courses are based on Borges. Stoner lit.

[monjaro]

I was considering phrasing my comment as "conversations between stoned philosophy students", so yes, that sounds about right.

Not to mention the fact that a philosophy course about Borges will likely be examining the work of the philosophers Borges was referencing. I've yet to see anyone make the claim that Borges originated any of the important philosophical ideas in his stories.

Edit: Just to back this up a little more, here is a quote from the man himself: "But I wonder if they are my ideas. Because really I am not a thinker. I have used the philosophers’ ideas for my own private literary purposes, but I don’t think that I’m a thinker. I suppose that my thinking has been done for me by Berkeley, by Hume, by Schopenhauer, by Mauthner perhaps."

http://denisdutton.com/jorge_luis_borges_interview.htm

[CamperBob2]

I've yet to see anyone make the claim that Borges originated any of the important philosophical ideas in his stories.

The idea of text as a finite construct struck me as original when I first encountered it in The Library of Babel. Are there any earlier sources that I should be aware of?

As someone who's interested in interactive fiction, I found a lot of prescient thinking in Borges. His work becomes more relevant over time, even as it posits its own eventual redundancy. I'm not sure anyone can say that about García Márquez. But like others are saying, there is no need to take away respect from one of these authors to pay it to the other.

Edit: Just to back this up a little more, here is a quote from the man himself: "But I wonder if they are my ideas. Because really I am not a thinker. I have used the philosophers’ ideas for my own private literary purposes, but I don’t think that I’m a thinker. I suppose that my thinking has been done for me by Berkeley, by Hume, by Schopenhauer, by Mauthner perhaps."

In other news, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome is a thing.

[jacques_chester]

> I've yet to see anyone make the claim that Borges originated any of the important philosophical ideas in his stories.

The publication of The Garden of Forking Paths predates Hugh Everett's PhD on the "Many Worlds" interpretation by 15 years.

[mxim]

Borges was mostly a short story writer, it's just another format, more condensed.

[cgh]

I don't think it's necessary to impugn Borges to make the case that Marquez was a wonderful writer. They were both remarkable.

[jacques_chester]

Clearly, we don't agree. I feel a similar feeling towards Marquez as you do towards Borges.