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{{Short description|Short story by Jorge Luis Borges}}
'''"On Exactitude in Science"''' or '''"On Rigor in Science"''' (the original ] title is '''''"Del rigor en la ciencia"''''') is a one-paragraph ] by ] and ], written in the form of a literary ]. "'''On Exactitude in Science'''", or "'''On Rigor in Science'''" (Spanish: "Del rigor en la ciencia") is a one-paragraph ] by Argentine writer ].


==Plot== ==Plot==
The story, ] as a quotation from "Suárez Miranda, ''Viajes de varones prudentes'', Libro IV, Cap. XLV, ], 1658", describes an empire where ] becomes so exact that only a map on the same scale as the empire itself will suffice. Later generations come to disregard the map, however, and as it decays, so does the land and society beneath it.<ref>J. L. Borges, ''A Universal History of Infamy'' (translated by Norman Thomas de Giovanni), Penguin Books, London, 1975. {{ISBN|0-14-003959-7}}.</ref>
{{spoiler}}
⚫ The story elaborates on a conceit in ]'s '']'': a fictional ] that had "the scale of a mile to the mile." One of Carroll's characters notes some practical difficulties with this map and states that "we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."

The Borges/Casares story, credited falsely as a quotation from "Suarez Miranda, Viajes de varones prudentes, Libro IV, Cap. XLV, Lerida, 1658", imagines an empire where the science of ] becomes so exact that only a map on the same scale as the empire itself will suffice. "Succeeding Generations... came to judge a map of such Magnitude cumbersome... In the western Deserts, tattered Fragments of the Map are still to be found, Sheltering an occasional Beast or beggar..."


==Publication history== ==Publication history==
The story was first published in the March 1946 edition of ''Los Anales de Buenos Aires'', ''año 1, no. 3'' under the ] B. Lynch Davis, and was collected later that year in the ] second Argentinian edition of Borges's ''Historia Universal de la Infamia'' (''A Universal History of Infamy''). The names "B. Lynch Davis" and "Suarez Miranda" would be combined later that year to form another pseudonym, B. Suarez Lynch, under which Borges and Bioy Casares published ''Un modelo para la muerte'', a collection of detective fiction. The story was first published in the March 1946 edition of ''Los Anales de Buenos Aires'' as part of a piece called "Museo" credited to "B. Lynch Davis", a joint pseudonym of Borges and ]. It was collected later that year in the 1946 second Argentinian edition of Borges' ''Historia universal de la infamia'' ('']'').<ref name="bibliography">{{Cite web |url=http://www.borges.pitt.edu/1946 |title=1946 &#124; Borges Center |access-date=2011-12-14 |archive-date=2013-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124020323/http://www.borges.pitt.edu/1946 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The story is no longer included in current Spanish editions of the ''Historia universal de la infamia'', as since 1961 it has appeared as part of Borges' collection '']''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.borges.pitt.edu/node/144 |title = 1960 |website=Borges.pitt.edu}}</ref>

The names "B. Lynch Davis" and "Suárez Miranda" would be combined later in 1946 to form another pseudonym, B. Suárez Lynch, under which Borges and Bioy Casares published ''Un modelo para la muerte'', a collection of detective fiction.<ref name="bibliography" />

==Influences and legacy==
⚫ "On Exactitude in Science" elaborates on a concept in ]'s '']'': a fictional map that had "the scale of a mile to the mile." One of Carroll's characters notes some practical difficulties with this map and states that "we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Edney|first=Matthew H.|title=Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LF_FBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA353|year=2009|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-18486-9|page=353n39}}</ref>

{{Quote box |width=90% |align=center |salign=right |source=from ], ''], Chapter XI, London, 1895''
|quote =
"What a useful thing a pocket-map is!" I remarked.

"That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do ''you'' consider the ''largest'' map that would be really useful?"

"About six inches to the mile."

"Only ''six inches''!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a ''hundred'' yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all ! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a ''mile to the mile''!"

"Have you used it much?" I enquired.

"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight ! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."}}

Italian writer ] expanded upon the theme, quoting the story as the epigraph for his short story "On the Impossibility of Drawing a Map of the Empire on a Scale of 1 to 1", collected in his ''How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays''.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Eco |first=Umberto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3bytC0aZs5IC&pg=PT103 |title=How to Travel with a Salmon & Other Essays |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-547-54043-6 |pages=95–106}}</ref>

French philosopher ] cited "On Exactitude in Science" as a predecessor to his concept of ] in his 1981 treatise '']''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kareneliot.de/downloads/JeanBaudrillard_Simulations_and_Simulacra.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2021-03-21 |archive-date=2021-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114150707/http://www.kareneliot.de/downloads/JeanBaudrillard_Simulations_and_Simulacra.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
* ]
* '']''

==References==
{{reflist}}


==External links== ==External links==
*
The story is readily available in its entirety online:
*
*
*. This is the translation quoted above; it is published in ''A Universal History of Infamy'' (ISBN 0-14-003959-7).


{{Jorge Luis Borges}}
*


] ]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 11:15, 9 June 2024

Short story by Jorge Luis Borges

"On Exactitude in Science", or "On Rigor in Science" (Spanish: "Del rigor en la ciencia") is a one-paragraph short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.

Plot

The story, credited fictionally as a quotation from "Suárez Miranda, Viajes de varones prudentes, Libro IV, Cap. XLV, Lérida, 1658", describes an empire where cartography becomes so exact that only a map on the same scale as the empire itself will suffice. Later generations come to disregard the map, however, and as it decays, so does the land and society beneath it.

Publication history

The story was first published in the March 1946 edition of Los Anales de Buenos Aires as part of a piece called "Museo" credited to "B. Lynch Davis", a joint pseudonym of Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares. It was collected later that year in the 1946 second Argentinian edition of Borges' Historia universal de la infamia (A Universal History of Infamy).

The story is no longer included in current Spanish editions of the Historia universal de la infamia, as since 1961 it has appeared as part of Borges' collection El hacedor.

The names "B. Lynch Davis" and "Suárez Miranda" would be combined later in 1946 to form another pseudonym, B. Suárez Lynch, under which Borges and Bioy Casares published Un modelo para la muerte, a collection of detective fiction.

Influences and legacy

"On Exactitude in Science" elaborates on a concept in Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno Concluded: a fictional map that had "the scale of a mile to the mile." One of Carroll's characters notes some practical difficulties with this map and states that "we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."

"What a useful thing a pocket-map is!" I remarked.

"That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"

"About six inches to the mile."

"Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all ! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"

"Have you used it much?" I enquired.

"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight ! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."

from Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, Chapter XI, London, 1895

Italian writer Umberto Eco expanded upon the theme, quoting the story as the epigraph for his short story "On the Impossibility of Drawing a Map of the Empire on a Scale of 1 to 1", collected in his How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays.

French philosopher Jean Baudrillard cited "On Exactitude in Science" as a predecessor to his concept of hyperreality in his 1981 treatise Simulacra and Simulation.

See also

References

  1. J. L. Borges, A Universal History of Infamy (translated by Norman Thomas de Giovanni), Penguin Books, London, 1975. ISBN 0-14-003959-7.
  2. ^ "1946 | Borges Center". Archived from the original on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
  3. "1960". Borges.pitt.edu.
  4. ^ Edney, Matthew H. (2009). Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843. University of Chicago Press. p. 353n39. ISBN 978-0-226-18486-9.
  5. Eco, Umberto (1995). How to Travel with a Salmon & Other Essays. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 95–106. ISBN 978-0-547-54043-6.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-03-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

Jorge Luis Borges
Bibliography
Original
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A Universal History of Infamy
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The Aleph
Dreamtigers
Dr. Brodie's Report
The Book of Sand
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