immortal once he embarks upon his journey. In this sense, Borges' immortality has to do with a Nietzsche-inspired humanist immortality which revolves around the super-abundant development of the person as an individual. This theme is also developed in "The Circular Ruins", "The Garden of Forking Paths", "The Sect of the Phoenix" and, in a sense, throughout all of Borges' writing. Another theme present is the infinite, which can also be found in much of Borges' writing. The constant symbol of the infinite is the labyrinth, which represents a dynamic of personal choice within the infinite permutations of existence. The troglodyte who makes patterns in the sand and the hero (Rufus) who finds himself questing after and achieving immortality should be seen as synonymous, all-encompassing representations of the choosing individual within the infinite flux of the universe's permutations. As such, the infinite represents complete contradiction of the individual and also its validation. "The Immortal" has been described as a fictional exploration of Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence, in which infinite time has wiped out the identity of individuals. The story can be compared to Homer's Odyssey, in the sense that it is a tribute to the universal, mythical proportion of Homer's work. The Immortal displays Borges' literary irony, fusing Swiftian satire, George Bernard Shaw's creative evolution in Back to Methusela, and the dream visions of Thomas De Quincey in a single work. Borges also comments on literary idealism in which the identities of component authors Homer, Shakespeare and Borges himself appear to merge into one another. Borges himself said of this story, "Blake wrote that if our senses did not work – if we were blind, deaf, etc. – we would see things as they are; infinite. 'The Immortal' sprang from that strange idea and also from the verse by Rupert Brooke, 'And see, no longer blinded by our eyes'". References Short stories by Jorge Luis Borges 1949 short stories Argentine speculative fiction works Fiction about immortality