Borges, Jorge Luis : The Immortals

Literature Annotations

Genre	Short Story (5 pp.)
Keywords	Aging, Anesthesia, Death and Dying, Doctor-Patient Relationship, Medical Advances, Patient Experience, Science Fiction, Surgery, Technology
Summary	This short story begins with a summary of the tale of Guillermo Blake, who believed that "the five senses obstruct or deform the apprehension of reality." The narrator then relates the tale to his own experience: upon visiting his gerontologist for a check-up, he is informed of a procedure that confers immortality. The "immortals" are reduced to living brains within wooden cubes, their bodies having been replaced by "formica, steel, plastics." The narrator tries not to show his horror, but moves immediately to a different part of the country under an alias.
Source	The Aleph and Other Stories, 1933-1969
Publisher	E. P. Dutton
Edition	1970
Place Published	New York
Alternate Source	On Doctoring
Alternate Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Alternate Edition	1995, 2001
Alternate Editors	Richard Reynolds & John Stone
Place Published	New York
Miscellaneous	Translated by Norman Thomas di Giovanni.
Annotated by	Chen, Irene
Date of Entry	12/07/93
Last Revised	03/05/02