Emma Zunz: Borges Marathon, Part 32

“Emma Zunz” is a somewhat atypical Borges story for a couple of reasons. The first is that the protagonist is a woman, which by my count is the first time that’s happened since way back in Part 3 of this Borges Marathon with “The Widow Ching“.

The second thing that makes it stand out is the plot: Emma Zunz fakes her own rape to give herself a justification for killing a man she believes cheated her father and caused his suicide. Sexual violence and revenge killings don’t make much of an appearance in the work of Jorge Luis Borges outside of this story.

The reason becomes clear in the Afterword to The Aleph (1949), the collection in which this story appeared. Borges says that the “wonderful plot—much superior to its timid execution—was given me by Cecilia Ingenieros.”

The name didn’t mean anything to me, and most online sources just refer to her as a friend, but this Spanish-language newspaper article claims that Borges and Ingenieros were in love and planning to marry, and Borges wrote this story while they were together. But then Ingenieros abruptly broke things off and went to Europe without him.

This explains, perhaps, why the story is a bit of an outlier in subject matter. But in its construction, it is very typical of Borges. He returns to the theme of a life consisting of a single moment, from the previous story, “A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz“, when Emma Zunz receives the letter telling of her father’s death:

“Her father’s death was the only thing that had happened in the world, and it would go on happening, endlessly, forever after.”

The revenge plot is then related in meticulous detail, with Emma Zunz completing a series of apparently unrelated acts, all of which will come together at the very end to explain how she set things up to make it appear as if Loewenthal had raped her and she had killed him in self-defence. Borges as usual blurs the lines between real and unreal, honour and deceit. Although Emma Zunz commits murder and lies about being raped, she is still clearly the hero of the story, with a strong moral justification for everything she does:

“Emma Zunz’s tone of voice was real, her shame was real, her hatred was real. The outrage that had been done to her was real, as well; all that was false were the circumstances, the time, and one or two proper names.”

What makes the story successful, I think, is the combination of suspense and revelation that marks so many Borges stories. He tells us a lot of what is going to happen, but withholds just enough to keep our interest. We know from the start that Emma Zunz blames Loewenthal for her father’s death and means to take revenge, probably by killing him. But then she goes about all those apparently unrelated tasks, like calling Loewenthal to snitch on her striking colleagues, reading about a Scandinavian ship arriving from Malmo, going down to the docks and picking up a sailor from the ship to have sex and then tearing up the money he gives her, etc. It all seems to be part of a clear plan, but it’s not at all clear what that plan is until the last few lines of the story, and that revelation at the end is very satisfying.

So although it’s a departure from the usual content of Borges stories, “Emma Zunz” works very well and is one of the best stories in The Aleph collection. And despite his self-deprecating afterword, the execution is not timid at all.

For more reviews of Borges fictions, check out my years-long Borges Marathon. And do join in, either by commenting below or by writing your own thoughts about these stories on your blog or social media.

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On his blog A Writer’s Life, British novelist Andrew Blackman shares book reviews, insights into the writing process and the latest literary news, as well as listing short story contests with a total of more than $250,000 in prize money.