"Nadie baja dos veces a las aguas del mismo río": Heraclitus' coves in Jorge Luis Borges' poetry. The river as a symbol of time and Heraclitus as a transcript of Borges

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the presence of the pre-Socratic thinker Heraclitus in the work of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. To do this, firstly, a brief state of the art is carried out concerning those academic works that have delved into the relationships between Heraclitus and Borges. Secondly, the appearances of the Obscure in Jorge Luis Borges’ prose are necessarily analyzed. Thirdly, the exegetical methodology is established, based on the postulates of Jesús Ponce Cárdenas, to detect the vital recreations, the ethical recreations and the emotional recreations of the philosopher of Ephesus in his poetry. Finally, a detailed study of twelve poems, in which Borges resorted to the enigmatic figure and speculative philosophy of Heraclitus in one way or another, is undertaken.