Jorge Luis Borges is one of the most influential short-story writers of the twentieth century. His fiction blends philosophy, paradox, history, and imagination into compact narratives that often function as thought experiments rather than conventional plots. Many Borges stories are brief, but they raise questions about time, identity, infinity, authorship, and reality itself.
This page highlights a small group of Borges’s most accessible and frequently read short stories, the ones readers most often begin with. These selections give a strong sense of his core ideas and techniques without requiring familiarity with his wider body of work. For a more thorough, collection-by-collection list of Borges’s short fiction, see the companion page linked at the end.
Jorge Luis Borges Short Stories
“The Lottery of Babylon”
A simple lottery—paying a copper coin to win a silver one—has to change when the public loses interest in it. Introducing unlucky numbers that obligate the drawer to pay a heavy fine increases interest. The lottery continues to evolve, exerting tremendous influence over everyone’s lives.
“The Garden of Forking Paths”
When a German spy calls his contact, Runeberg, a different man answers—Captain Richard Madden, an English agent. Runeberg has been caught and his own cover has been blown. The spy has discovered a secret, the location of a British artillery park. That vital information will die with him unless he can figure out a way to communicate it.
“Death and the Compass”
Erik Lonnrot investigates a series of murders that involve Red Scharlach, a criminal who has sworn to kill Lonnrot. It begins when a rabbi is found dead in his room near the door with a stab wound to the chest. The police commissioner offers a simple explanation—a robber went to the wrong place and had to kill the rabbi. Lonnrot believes there’s a complex mystery to uncover.
“Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”
Five years ago the narrator heard a quotation that originated from the country of Uqbar. His acquaintance remembered it from an encyclopedia entry. They search through the book, but can’t find the entry on the country. After some searching, they do find it. They’re surprised to learn it doesn’t appear in all copies of the book.
You can get all the Jorge Luis Borges short stories on this page and many more in Collected Fictions.
“Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote”
The narrator, a French academic, outlines the works of Pierre Menard, an author. According to the narrator, these are merely Menard’s visible works. He is going to focus on what he believes to be the authors’ unparalleled achievement—some chapters of the novel Don Quixote.
“The Circular Ruins”
A man goes to a ruined temple with the purpose of dreaming a man into existence and having him inhabit the real world. He makes progress when he starts dreaming the man one piece at a time. (Read “The Circular Ruins”) (PDF)
“The Library of Babel”
The narrator’s universe, a Library, is made up of endless galleries full of books. He has been looking for one in particular. It contains every possible book that could ever be written. As a result, most of its contents are complete nonsense. (Read “The Library of Babel”) (PDF)
“Funes the Memorious” (Funes, His Memory)
Ireneo Funes is paralyzed when he falls off a horse. It has another effect on him as well—he remembers every detail of everything he experiences. (Read “Funes the Memorious”) (PDF)
“The Secret Miracle”
On March 19, 1939, an accusation is made against Jaromir Hladik, an author. He’s arrested that day and taken to a barracks. He can’t refute the charges. He’s sentenced to be executed by firing squad ten days later. Hladik is horrified but his concern soon shifts to his unfinished drama, The Enemies.
“Emma Zunz”
When Emma comes home from work, there’s a letter informing her of her father’s death by accidental overdose in a hospital in Brazil. She believes it was intentional on his part. She thinks about the prison sentence for embezzlement at the mill that ruined the family. Her father told her it was actually Aaron Lowenthal, the manager. She plans revenge.
“The Aleph”
After the death of the woman he loves, the narrator begins visiting her father and first cousin, Carlos Daneri, every year. Daneri speaks on a variety of subjects, all of which the narrator views as meaningless. In particular, he reads and praises his own poetry. When he runs into a problem with his landlords, he reveals something shocking about his house. (Read “The Aleph”) (PDF)
“Borges and I”
Borges talks of his dual identities as a writer and a man. (Read “Borges and I”) (PDF)
Jorge Luis Borges’s short stories often resist simple interpretation. They reward slow reading, rereading, and reflection, revealing new patterns and meanings over time. Even when the plots are simple, the ideas behind them can feel vast.
If you’re new to Borges, the stories above offer the clearest entry points into his work. Once you’re comfortable with his style and interests, the companion page of additional Borges short stories expands the picture, showing how these ideas recur, evolve, and echo across his full body of short fiction.