Writing influenced
by Borges.

Borges wrote stories that are also philosophical arguments. The argument is inseparable from the fiction.

The literature of ideas · Infinite libraries · Buenos Aires at its most literary

Borges is the Buenos Aires writer above all others, and the Buenos Aires city pages in Tumbleweed Words are inflected by his presence in the city. But the Borges influence is also formal: he demonstrated that a short story could be a thought experiment, that fiction could carry philosophical weight without becoming didactic, that the imagination could create worlds that illuminate this one by being nothing like it. His labyrinths are metaphors for reading. His infinite library is a metaphor for language. Both are literally true.

"In the Buenos Aires bookshop at midnight I found a book I had been looking for for fifteen years. This was either a coincidence or a Borges story. In Buenos Aires, there is no difference."

David — Tumbleweed Words — Buenos Aires

Borges teaches flash fiction writers that a story can begin with a proposition — a what-if — and follow its logic rigorously to an end. The proposition does not need to be realistic. It needs to be internally consistent. A library that contains every possible book. A map that is the same size as the territory. A man who remembers everything. Begin with the impossible proposition and follow it precisely.

David — Tumbleweed Words Flash fiction and poetry in the minimalist tradition. Published in Litro, Adelaide Magazine, Cleaver Magazine. Pushcart-nominated. Read the newsletter.