The Dissemination of Tln into Humanity:

Using Schma L to Read Borges Tln, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

In Jorge Luis Borges story Tln, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, Jacques Lacans Schma L can

be used to illustrate the complex way in which the fictional world of Tln is structured by

language, and its ultimate transcendence into the literal world of the narrator. In creating a

language which does not make use of nouns (the syntagmatic signifier, for it gives context to the

adjectives and verbs of a language), Borges forces objects to be defined through an

accumulation of adjectives and a gerrymandering of verbs in order to establish meaning and

power (Borges 23). In this way, authors are able to create fantastic poems consisting of only a

singular word, mirroring Tlns literary society in which the composite oeuvre of all past and

future artists is viewed as the accomplishment of a single author. The notion of the Single Author

can be viewed as the projection of Tln itself onto a perceptible, or definable, idea in order to

form an outward representation of Tlnic culture in the same way the Subject projects itself onto

the lower-case subject in order to more physically represent itself in relation to the other in

Lacans Schma L. This modified Schma L (portrayed on the final page of this essay) also

serves as a transition into Borges overarching narrative of Tln overtaking Earth through the

propagation of Tlnic culture as fact, thus transitioning the Subject Tln, in Diagram, A into the

Other, in Diagram B. Tlns status as a duplicate of the unconscious further allows this transition

to take place by enticing humanity to study the fictional planet as a means of locating truth in the

unconscious. This effort becomes impossible, for Tln subjugates humanity by offering a

window to the unconscious but, by interposing itself as the area of study instead, prevents

analysts from actually reaching it.

 In the fictional world of Tln, language acts as the precursor to all cultural structures

(cementing its occupation as the Other), thus structuring the fictional society as a language itself,

much like Lacans view of the unconscious, placing Tln as the Subject. Borges argues for the

existence of language as a governing entity when he asserts that Tlns language, with its

derivativesreligion, literature, and metaphysicspresupposes idealism [in the philosophical

sense] (Borges 23). If the language of Tln can be considered idealistic, all other objects

originating from that language are also inherently idealistic (objects, Borges argues, meaning all

of society), and therefore the world of Tln is serial and temporal, but not spatial (Borges 23).

This absence of spatiality allows for language to be constructed without nouns, for there are no

concrete objects to provide an anchor for such words. As such, the language of Tln consists of a

smashing together of verbs and long lists of adjectives, all of which direct towards a signified

that does not tangibly exist as a noun, but is instead a conceptual manifestation of its descriptors.

The entire world of Tln exists using this model, for it is nothing more than the

subordination of all the aspects of the universe to some one of them, which places Tln into the

slot of the Subject in Lacans Schma L (Borges 25). Due to the idealistic nature of Tlns

culture, there is only one discipline, that of psychology, as everything in Tln exists as a

product of the mind, or is immaterial (Borges 24). Tln is referred to as a labyrinth destined to

be deciphered by men: a labyrinth constructed by language which exists as the mazes walls,

corridors, twists, turns, and dead ends, and serves to disorient and frustrate the search for

meaning at the symbolic center of the maze. The symbol of the labyrinth accurately portrays the

struggle of the unconscious in its eternal search of jouissance:

To reach the centre of the maze, like a stage in the process of initiation is to be made a

member of the invisible lodge which the maze-makers always shroud in mystery or,
 better still, have always left to be filled with the finders own intuition. (Chevalier and

Gheerbrant 644)

In finding the center of the language labyrinth, one would be able to navigate and control the

meanings of language in order to find truth, which would result in jouissance or becoming a

member of the invisible lodge of language, which is impossible. Language by its very nature

constantly slips between signifier and signified, making it impossible to construe a verifiable

truth. This process becomes especially difficult with a language absent of nouns, for one must

work with concepts which rely on the presence of their syntagmatic nouns: adjectives and verbs.

In this way, the Subject of Tln is constantly suppressed by its language, or the cause of its

desire, in the same manner that Lacans Subject is unable to attain his sexual partner, who is

the Other in A Love Letter (80).

The literature of Tln uses the movement of the other towards the subject in Schma L,

for every work is attributed to the Single Author: a conceptual amalgam of all the past, present,

and future authors of Tln. Not only are the works of the Single Author comprised of all writers

production, they are based on a single plot which runs through every imaginable permutation

(Borges 28). Every work of fiction exists not simply in relation to other works, but rather as a

complete duplication of that work, even those of adversarial argument, for a book which does

not include its oppositeis considered incomplete (Borges 29). Not only are all authors focused

into the Single Author, all works can be seen as propagating a single, constant narrative defining

the culture of Tln. Since the fictional culture is derived from language, the Single Author

represents Tlns outward projection of its inward identity into a more tangible, cultural form,

just as Lacans Subject transposes itself onto the lower-case subject in Schma L. The lower-case

other in the diagram now represents the multitude of other authors, for the Single Author is
granted its oeuvre from the others writings and desires. Schma L in relation to the fictional

world now resembles Diagram A: language as the Other, the physical multitude of authors as the

lower-case other funneling into the subject, the Single Author as the lower-case subject created

from the others work and desires, and Tln as the Subject seeking jouissance from language.

Using Tlns movement from the Subject in Diagram A to the Other in Diagram B, one

can view Borges transition from the more subtle levels of the text into its surface narrative: Tln

subjugating humanity and overtaking human culture with its own. In order for Tln to be

transformed into the Other, it must be perceived as reality rather than fiction. In Tln, Uqbar,

Orbis Tertius this is made possible through the creation of the First Encyclopaedia of Tln by

several generations of a secret society. The latter part acting as a parallel to the creation of the

Single Author in Tlnic culture; it is the work of many transformed into one. It is important to

note the use of the word generation, as real societies are formed through the organic passing of

time and lineage, so Tln is created in the same process rather than being the fabrication of a

single author. For example, no one believes in the reality of Tolkiens Middle-Earth because it is

easily identifiable as one authors work of fiction, whereas a complex mythology such as that of

Santa Claus are still, in some circles, accepted as reality (in this case among children) because it

is inherited and disseminated throughout each generation, being treated as nonfiction rather than

imaginary. By offering the First Encyclopaedia of Tln as reality, the secret society eventually

causes Tln to fully become literal reality to humanity.

Evidence of fiction becoming reality exists on the world Tln itself, as the narrator states,

Centuries and centuries of idealism have not failed to influence reality (Borges 29). This

influence manifests itself in the form of hrnir, or the duplicates of objects willed to creation

through only thoughts. The world of Tln is a hrn of the unconscious. Borges uses hrnir as the
most concrete example of fiction physically manifesting itself; peoples ideas are literally made

corporeal by the very act of imagining they exist, allow[ing] them to question and even to

modify the past (Borges 30). This act of modification is exactly what the members of the secret

society hoped to accomplish: demonstrating that mortal men were capable of conceiving a

world (Borges 31). With this goal, the men set about writing the history of a fictitious planet,

ending with the final product as a hrn of their own unconscious.

It the above reason that the propagation of Tln as reality does not act as the sole reason

for the eventual subjugation of humanity. This eventuality directly relies upon the fictional

planets status as a hrn of the human psyche, namely being structured as a language, for in

duplicating their unconscious as Tln, the secret society created a text for future generations to

study and dissect with the intent of discovering the truth hidden in humanitys collective

unconscious. The future generations obsessive study and adoption of Tln culture allows the

hrn to impose its structure over the human unconscious in the image of two transparencies

placed one over the other on a projector: one can see through the structure of Tln to the

unconscious but can only annotate and mark its duplicate which remains on top. For this reason,

hrnir, or duplicates, are presented as larger than the original (Borges 29). Within the story,

mirrors are considered abominable for the same reason (Borges 16, 18). Just as in Lacans

Mirror Stage theory, they provide reflections, or duplications of real world objects, leading to a

flawed representation of the Subject, or unconscious, that exists only as the lower-case subject.

Borges echoes this theory on page 26 in his discussion of Tlnic philosophy: Another believes

that, while we are asleep here, we are awake somewhere elseevery man is two men, or the

unconscious and its duplication. In this philosophy, one facet of the man must remain asleep, or

suppressed, while the other is awake, or dominant; the two cannot be present at the same time. If
Tln and the literal world are two men of the same entity, both cannot coexist; the larger

duplicate takes over.

The intricate taunting of the human unconscious by the planets transposition lends Tln

a stickiness which cannot be denied once one has been subjugated to it. This is related through an

episode in which the narrator picks up a metal cone:

I remember that its weight was intolerable and that after it was removed, the feeling of

oppressiveness remained. I also remember the exact circle it pressed into my palm. The

sensation of a very small and at the same time extremely heavy object produced a

disagreeable impression of repugnance and fear. (Borges 33)

This artifact of the foreign planet encroaches itself onto the narrator and remains stuck after the

cone is dropped: its oppressiveness remained. The cone is only a small representation of Tln

and its culture but contains the full-weight of its oppression. Tln, by its structure as a language,

embodies the unconscious struggle for jouissance (as portrayed in Diagram A) and thus asserts

itself, in the literal world, as the Other (in Diagram B), for, as a duplicate of the unconscious, it

becomes the perceived object of truth. In this way, Diagram B cannot be separated from its

counterpart, for Tlns representation of the unconscious in Diagram A makes it possible for

Tln to be received as the Other. The first example given by Borges of Tlns overtaking of the

literal world is through society learning its conjectural primitive language (Borges 34). This

effort by humanity to learn the language can be seen as an utter and misguided failure, as it

perpetuates the very problem that Tln faced in Diagram A: castration by language. Through its

subjugation by language, the world will [become] Tln; the search for truth will return to its

origin in language, which forever bars the way to jouissance, or truth.

 When read using Jacques Lacans Schma L, the world of Tln is revealed to be

structured by language, just as the human unconscious. This structure is achieved by subtracting

nouns from the language of Tln, thereby placing the hope for meaning on verbs and slippery

streams of adjectives. While this method further aggravates the pursuit of a material linguistic

truth, it allows Tlns authors to create works comprised of only one word. This facet of the

Tlnic language is a metaphor for the way in which the many authors of the planet are viewed as

a Single Author. This movement from many to one acts in the same way that a lower-case

subject is created from the lower-case other in Lacans Schma L. The Single Author also serves

as the unconscious Tlns projection of itself into a more tangible form, representative of the

movement from the Subject to the lower-case subject in Schma L. The status of Tln as a

duplicate, or hrnir, of the unconscious, allows the planet to transform into the Other in the

literal world. This transformation is represented in a modified Schma L which combines the two

worlds into one diagram. Tln is able to subjugate humanity by allowing a glimpse into the

unconscious, thereby enticing human culture to seek jouissance within it. Humanitys first

attempt to analyze Tln is by learning the rudimentary version of the planets language, the

entity which first oppressed Tln, thereby fully becoming the planet, unable to find truth in the

unconscious, failing to attain jouissance, and returning to the beginning of the modified Schma

L.
Modified Schma L
 Works Cited

Borges, Jorge Luis, and Anthony Kerrigan. Ficciones. New York: Grove, 1962. Print.

Chevalier, Jean, Alain Gheerbrant, and John Buchanan-Brown. A Dictionary of Symbols.

London, England: Penguin, 1996. 642-44. Print.

Lacan, Jacques, Jacques-Alain Miller, and Bruce Fink. "A Love Letter." The Seminar of Jacques

Lacan. Vol. XX. New York: Norton, 1999. 64-84. Print.

Lacan, Jacques. "The Instance of the Letter in the Unconscious." Ecrits: A Selection. Trans.

Bruce Fink. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2002. Print.