The Question of Identity in The South (Jorge Luis Borges) And the Centaur in The Garden (Moacyr Scliar) From the Perspective of Mādhyamaka Philosophy

Abstract

This study investigates the issue of identity regarding Guedali in The Centaur in the Garden (Moacyr Scliar) and Juan Dahlmann in The South (Jorge Luis Borges) under the light of Nāgārjuna’s Madhyamaka (Middle Way) philosophy. The article is motivated by the awareness of the absence of a Buddhist approach in the research of these two works. The central thesis of the paper is, through Nāgārjuna’s method of deconstructing dualism, personal identity does not possess a fixed essence but is a process of sliding meaning, constructed within dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda). Regarding methodology, we utilize a combination of postcolonial criticism, comparative and post-structuralism methods for research. The results indicate that both works construct an indeterminate ontology, where all designations are provisional and temporary. Therefore, the paper affirms the value of Madhyamaka as an effective theoretical framework for re-reading the issue of identity in modern literature.