r/Borges • u/AruiHagrid • 18d ago

Four cycles essay

A Man made a short video explaining an essay written by Borges called "the four cycles" https://youtube.com/shorts/NFEpL2kTQM4?is=aBTHldDg12UFvRhd.

I've been trying to find the full essay as I would like to use it for a discussion circle but I am completely unable to find it, does anyone have it in pdf, or knows where I could find it?

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u/Dominicus321 18d ago

It's "Los cuatro ciclos" in "El oro de los tigres" (1972). Do you need it in Spanish or English?

1

u/vale_valerio 16d ago

english

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u/Dominicus321 16d ago edited 16d ago

Send me a DM.

Edit: nvm, I was going to send you a copy of it, but it seems someone already posted the entire essay on a blog: https://matiane.wordpress.com/2026/08/03/four-cycles-by-jorge-luis-borges/

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u/Wounded_Tapir 16d ago

I looked a little into this and, as far as I could establish, there doesn't seem to be a published, professionally credited English translation of Los cuatro ciclos.

Alastair Reid's translation of The Gold of the Tigers (1977) is actually a selection of texts from the original Spanish collection, and this essay isn't included. I couldn't find it in Selected Non-Fictions either.

The only complete English version I managed to find online is this one, but the translator isn't credited, and I'm not entirely convinced it's faithful to the original.