Magical and Sublime Realism in the Circular RuinsAmong the many stories that the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote, "The Circular Ruins" was published in 1964 in a collection of his works entitled Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings. Although "The Circular Ruins" can be classified as a magical realist text, one might wonder whether this tale can also be classified as Sublime. By examining “The Circular Ruins,” a reader will be able to see several similarities between Magical Realism and the Sublime. Of course, the first step in deciding whether or not "The Circular Ruins" is a type of the Sublime is to look at some of the characteristics of the Sublime. For example, one of the characteristics of the Sublime is to arouse the feeling of transcendence, which means that the reader feels rooted in the world but, at the same time, perceives something that is beyond the world (Sandner 52). By using the element of dreams in “The Circular Ruins,” transcendence is experienced not only by the reader but also by the main character. With the specific purpose of “dreaming of a man” and “putting him into reality,” the main character goes to the circular ruins to sleep (Borges 46). After finally achieving his goal, the main character discovers that he himself is only the result of someone else's imagination (Borges 50). As a result, the reader may wonder whether he or she, like the main character, is just someone else's dream. Therefore, while the character and the reader may feel as if they are real human beings, they may begin to feel as if they are imaginary human beings, which is the sensation of something beyond the world. How does this sensation arise... .. middle of paper ......k P, 1986.Borges, Jorge Luis. "The circular ruins." Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Ed. Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby. New York: New Directions, 1964. 45-50. Faris, Wendy B. "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction." Magical realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1995. 163-186.Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Hispanic American Fiction." Magical realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1995. 109-116.Longinus. On the Sublime. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1995.Sandner, David. The fantastic sublime. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 1996. Schaffer, Barbara Joan. "The circular ruins." January 23 2001>.