ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some key associations between Nietzsche's thought and the lessons on language, translation, and interpretation to be learned from both "Funes" and "Pierre Menard". "Funes" can be read as a sophisticated meditation on issues of language and translation that finds a compatible reflection in the German philosopher's thought. The chapter focuses on the theoretical basis underscoring Borges's non-essentialist conceptions of language and translation that share a great deal with Nietzsche's radical critique of Platonic notions of truth and representation. It also focuses on the possibility of translation as a faithful rendering or reproduction of the original as a stable, unchanging entity. Motivated by Borges's reference to Funes as a Uruguyan Zarathustra, readers familiar with Nietzsche's text will likely find in the story echoes of the latter's character and, even, of the original prophet. Pierre Menard" reinforces Borges's views on the inescapable visibility of translations and translators.
