What narrative style is prominent in Borges' works like "The Library of Babel"?

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The narrative style prominent in Borges' works, such as "The Library of Babel," is metafiction. This style is characterized by self-referential elements that draw attention to the nature of storytelling and the construction of narratives. Borges often plays with the boundaries between fiction and reality, contemplating concepts of infinity, authorship, and the act of reading itself.

In "The Library of Babel," for example, the entire structure of the story revolves around a fictional library that contains every possible combination of letters, which leads to profound philosophical implications about knowledge and existence. This metafictional approach invites readers to reflect not just on the narrative being presented but also on the nature of books, storytelling, and the limitations of language.

While first-person narrative, stream-of-consciousness, and magical realism may also appear in various literary works, they do not encapsulate the 'self-aware' quality and the analytical exploration of the act of creation that is so characteristic of Borges' style.

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