"The Analytical Language of John Wilkins" | |
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Short story by Jorge Luis Borges | |
![]() First edition of Otras Inquisiciones (1937-1952), published by Sur (Buenos Aires) in 1952 | |
Original title | El idioma analitico de John Wilkins |
Genre(s) | Criticism |
Publication | |
Published in | Otras Inquisiciones (1937-1952) |
Publication type | Anthology |
Publisher | Sur |
Publication date | 1942 |
"The Analytical Language of John Wilkins" (Spanish: "El idioma analítico de John Wilkins") is a short essay by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, first printed in La Nación on 8 February 1942[1][2] and subsequently published in Otras Inquisiciones (1937–1952).[3][4] It is a critique of the English natural philosopher and writer John Wilkins's proposal for a universal language and of the representational capacity of language generally. In it, Borges imagines a bizarre and whimsical fictional Chinese taxonomy later quoted by Michel Foucault, David Byrne, and others.[5][6]
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