Jorge Luis BorgesÆ short story The Garden of Forking Paths is the story of Dr. Yu Tsun, a spy in the services of the German army during WWII. Tsun is charged with discovering the town where the British are hiding an artillery encampment. Once he knows the name of the town, Albert, he figures out a plan to inform the Germans of the name of the town. He has little time to do so, as he is being pursued by Captain Madden, an Irishman in the service of the British. He realizes he must murder a man by the last name Albert, so the story will make the newspapers and provide the townÆs location to his German commander. He opens a phone book and randomly selects the name of Dr. Stephen Albert. Upon arriving at AlbertÆs home, Yu Tsun discovers Albert, a Sinologist, has been able to decipher the labyrinth of a novel called The Garden of Forking Paths, written by none other than TsunÆs ancestor TsÆui PA n. Yu Tsun discusses the mystery and structure of his ancestorÆs book, before killing Albert. He is arrested by Madden and condemned to die, arguing that though successful in his spy mission no one will ever know the extent of his ôinnumerable contrition and wearinessö (Borges 1941, 6).
The short story conveys many themes. One of them involves racism and oppression, whereby a dominant culture constructs a negative image of another culture as the ôotherö. We see that Madden is an Irishman fighting for England. Albert is an Englishman immersed in Chinese culture. Yu Tsun is a Chinese fighting for the Germans against the English. However, Yu Tsun is not enamored with the German Reich. Instead, he remains in their service to prove that the ôotherö far from being inferior from the German perspective is superior, ôI felt the Chief somehow feared people of my race û for the innumerable ancestor who merge within me. I wanted to prove to him that a yellow man could save his armiesö (Borges 1941, 2).
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