Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Get this: director Christopher Nolan says that the movie Inception was inspired in part by "The Secret Miracle." Now that is a fun fact. (Source.)
Borges thought that writing long books was a waste of time, and famously said that "[a] better course of procedure is to pretend that these books already exist, and then to offer a resume, a commentary." No wonder he was so into short stories. (Source)
Borges' invented works would sometimes pop up as references in his other short stories, giving them a sense of scholarly authority. For example, A Vindication of Eternity, a book by "The Secret Miracle" protagonist Jaromir Hladik, appears in a footnote to another of Borges' short stories, "Three Versions of Judas." Pretty sneaky, right? (Source.)
Borges' stand against anti-Semitism was particularly brave, considering the political climate of Argentina in the 1930s and 1940s. Argentina maintained diplomatic relations with Germany and the Axis powers until the very end of World War II, and famously served as a haven for Nazi military officials in the decades following the war. You go, Borges. (Source.)