View source for El Golem

{{Short description|Poem by Jorge Luis Borges}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2024}}
"'''El Golem'''" is a poem by [[Jorge Luis Borges]], published in 1959, and later published as part of the 1964 book ''[[El otro, el mismo]]'' (''The other, the self''). The poem tells the story of [[Judah Loew ben Bezalel|Judah Loew]] and his creation of the [[Golem]]. In the poem, Borges quotes the works of German Jewish philosopher [[Gershom Scholem]] and [[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]] by [[Plato]].

==Background==
Borges was fascinated by [[Kabbalah]] all his life, and besides El Golem, wrote 3 other texts relating to Kabbalah: ''Una vindicación de la Cábala''(1932), ''Del Culto de los Libros''(1951), and ''La Cábala''(1980). He also wrote an uncompleted essay in the 1940s, also titled ''La Cábala''. Additionally, there is a section dedicated to the Golem in Borges' [[Book of Imaginary Beings]]. Borges was also influenced by [[Gustav Meyrink]]'s work ''The Golem'', which he read in his youth and cited as having influenced his own poem.<ref name="frazier">{{cite journal |last1=Frazier-Yoder |first1=Amy |title=The Absolute Text: Flawed Creation and Flawed Semiotic Systems in Borges's "El Golem" |journal=Variaciones Borges |date=2015 |issue=40 |pages=161–180 |jstor=24881242 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24881242 |access-date=5 February 2024 |issn=1396-0482}}</ref>

==Summary==
The poem is a retelling of the legend of Rabbi Judah Loew and the Golem. Loew creates an artificial man using the sacred name of God, but his creation is flawed - the rabbi cannot hope to repeat the act of creation that God did. In the end, the rabbi comes to the revelation that he is also an imperfect creation of God and no different from the golem.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Evans Lansing |title=The Golem and the Garland of Letters in Borges and Broch |journal=Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts |date=1995 |volume=7 |issue=2/3 (26/27) |pages=183–184 |jstor=43308240 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43308240 |access-date=5 February 2024 |issn=0897-0521}}</ref> The poem explores the idea that human-created language systems are inherently limited and how reality cannot be confined to language and words, and the idea that creation is necessarily imperfect.<ref name="frazier" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meredith |first1=Kristi Leigh |title=La imperfección de la poesía: una interpretación del poema El golem de Jorge Luis Borges. |journal=PLVS Ultra |date=2016 |volume=2 |issue=1 |trans-title=The Imperfection of Poetry: an interpretation of the poem The Golem by Jorge Luis Borges |language=es |issn=2369-0585}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=del Rosario Pérez Bernal |first1=Ángeles María |title=Paradoja Y Deconstrucción En "El Golem" De Jorge Luis Borges |journal=Revista Chilena de Literatura |date=2022 |issue=105 |pages=531–551 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48668710 |access-date=5 February 2024 |trans-title=Paradox and Deconstruction in "El Golem" by Jorge Luis Borges |publisher=Universidad de Chile |jstor=48668710 |language=es |issn=0048-7651}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24880594 Kabbalistic Borges and Textual Golems]

{{Jorge Luis Borges}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golem, El}}
[[Category:Works by Jorge Luis Borges]]
[[Category:1964 poems]]
[[Category:Golem]]
[[Category:Poems in Spanish]]
[[Category:Argentine speculative fiction works]]


{{1960s-poem-stub}}