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The Garden of Forking Paths / 67 FREEDOM AND DESTINY 6 The Garden of Forking Paths “The Garden of Forking Paths” is one of Borges’s most frequently discussed stories. It raises a variety of questions that philosophers, literary critics, and artists have found fascinating. One, for example, concerns the status of the infinite possibilities that open up at every instant of time: Are they real or unreal? Do I drink a cup of coffee or a cup of tea? If I drink a cup of coffee, what is the status of the cup of tea that I did not drink? And if I drink a cup of tea, what is the status of the cup of coffee? What are the differences between them and how are they related to truth? The problem is immortalized in Chapter 9 of Aristotle’s On Interpretation, where he raises the question of the truth value of a proposition about a sea battle that would happen the next day, such as, “The battle will be won by the Athenians.” Another related question has to do with freedom and destiny. How does the infinite number of possibilities that open up at every fork of the road in our lives affect our future choices and destinies? For some, it is clear that we are free to choose, but each choice opens and closes further avenues. If I have two choices, A and B, and I choose A, that opens up a seemingly endless number of further possibilities, but it excludes B, including another infinite number of possibilities. Are we, then, free because we can choose, even if the choices impose on us a framework of further choices? 68 / Painting Borges The story, like many others from Borges is actually a tale within a tale, complicated even further by the facts that the main narrative on which it is based is missing the first two first pages and the tale is self-reported in the History of the European War. The war in question is supposed to be the First World War, and the history written by Liddel Hart. However, Hart never wrote a book with this title, the page references to the books he wrote do not coincide with Borges’s references in the various editions of this story, and Borges’s mention of el Jefe in it fits Hitler’s profile. This and other incongruities suggest the war in question is the Second World War. One story functions as a fold for the other, and the weave of relations between the two opens unexpected avenues of meaning and interpretation. The narrative is signed by Dr. Yu Tsun, a former professor of English in the Hochschule at Tsingtao. The events take place in England. Col. Richard Madden, a determined Irishman, has discovered that Tsun, a consular official and a spy for the Third Reich, and Runeberg, his associate, have uncovered the location of the new British artillery park on the Ancre and are looking for a way to convey this information to the Leader, so the German air force can bomb it. Tsun has found out that Runeberg has either been arrested or killed and he must finish the task by himself. But how is he to convey the name of the town to the Leader? His aim is not the glory of Germany, a nation he considers barbaric. He is merely trying to demonstrate to the Leader—a despicable man whom he hates because he thinks Tsun’s race inferior—that a yellow man can save his armies. The solution becomes clear to Tsun, although it is not revealed to the reader until the very end of the narrative. He must kill a man with the name of the town where the British artillery park is located, so that when this is published, the Germans will know where to attack. The name of the city is Albert, so Tsun looks up the address of a person with that name in the telephone book. After he finds it, he searches in his pockets for the gun with one bullet that he will need in order to accomplish his task. Albert lives in Ashgrove, so Tsun takes a train there, although he carefully buys a ticket to a different town to cover his tracks. As the train pulls out, he sees Madden at the end of the platform, but he has gained an advantage. He arrives at...

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