Spatial conceptS in BorgeS’S StorieS

this paper focuses on some of the ways in which spatiality is relevant to Borges’s work. Before considering some of his major stories from this perspective, however, it is worth noting an element of theoretical background that underpins much of the discussion that is presented here. This is the notion of the “production of space” formulated by Henri Lefebvre in his 1974 book La production de l’espace. There, Lefebvre outlines a threepart categorization that draws attention to some of the key ways in which human beings experience space. The three notions about space that he refers to are what he calls “spatial practice” or espace perçu, “representations of space” or espace conçu, and “representational spaces.” The first of these, spatial practice, means space as it is perceived and used for description, suggesting the kind of concrete apprehension of space we could associate with the qualities and characteristics of individual places. The second, “espace conçu,” means representations of space, space in terms of how it is “tied to the relations of production and to the ‘order’ which those relations impose, and hence to knowledge, to signs, to codes” (Lefebvre 33).1 The third and final element of the series is what are called “spaces of representation,” or lieux de représentation. This refers to ways in which space is used to carry out a transformation by making symbolic use of objects and places, meaning space that the human imagination appropriates and changes. These concepts relate to all three stories