--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I use a name or place, I want to…" description: "\"When I use a name or place, I want to leave the reader open to the waterfall of determinacy that it may provoke. And I don't know, but I must mention t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/sergio-chejfec-24437_books_when-i-use-a-name-or-place-i-want-to-lea_2461155.jpg" --- # When I use a name or place, I want to leave the reader… ![“When I use a name or place, I want to leave the reader open to the waterfall of determinacy that it may provoke. And I don't know, but I must mention the name Borges. I try to mention it in every one of my works. It's a mark, a stamp, a sort of homage to Argentinidad. But it's an homage that works…” quote by Sergio Chejfec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/sergio-chejfec-24437_books_when-i-use-a-name-or-place-i-want-to-lea_2461155.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/sergio-chejfec-24437_books_when-i-use-a-name-or-place-i-want-to-lea_2461155.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/sergio-chejfec-24437_books_when-i-use-a-name-or-place-i-want-to-lea_2461155.jpg) > “When I use a name or place, I want to leave the reader open to the waterfall of determinacy that it may provoke. And I don't know, but I must mention the name Borges. I try to mention it in every one of my works. It's a mark, a stamp, a sort of homage to Argentinidad. But it's an homage that works through pat phrases, those stock images that populate his work: the night, labyrinths, libraries. That is, I don't want simply to pay homage to Borges, but rather the contrary: to recall his commonplaces.” [Sergio Chejfec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-chejfec/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author uses Borges as a symbolic reference, invoking his recurring motifs to enrich his own work without direct imitation. **In simple terms:** Borges serves as a literary shorthand for mystery and complexity. Key Takeaway Use iconic references to evoke deeper layers. Themes literary homage intertextuality symbolism Mood reflective introspective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - novel writing - creative workshops - literary criticism Key Concepts postmodernism cultural memory metafiction Questions to Reflect On - How does invoking a famous author shape reader expectations? - When does homage become imitation? A Different Perspective Overreliance on homage may eclipse original voice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borges/) [Borges Try](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borges-try-657560/) [Commonplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commonplace/) [Contrary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contrary/) [Homage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homage/) [Homage Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homage-borges-657557/) [Homage Works](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homage-works-657559/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Labyrinth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labyrinth/) [Library](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/library/) [Mark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mark/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Mention Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mention-borges-657558/) [Names](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/names/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Pay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pay/) [Phrases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/phrases/) [Provoking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/provoking/) [Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reader/) [Recalls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recalls/) [Stamps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stamps/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Use](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/use/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Waterfalls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waterfalls/) [Working it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/working-it/) ## Related quotes > [I'm educating myself more about world poetry. I know a lot about contemporary American poetry, so I felt I needed to learn more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-joseph/i-m-educating-myself-more-about-world-poetry-i-know-a-lot-about/) [Allison Joseph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-joseph/) > [“Borges is particularly stimulating to a man who works in the cinema, because the unusual thing about his writing is that it is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/borges-is-particularly-stimulating-to-a-man-who-works-in-the-cinema/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I was an eccentric teenager in suburban New Jersey, in a town mostly interested in sports, popularity, and clothes. 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As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacey-d-erasmo/nazi-literature-in-the-americas-a-wicked-invented-encyclopedia-of/) [Stacey D'Erasmo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacey-d-erasmo/) > [“Si me quieren buscar, búsquenme en los libros. No los lean, por favor, si no obtienen placer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/si-me-quieren-buscar-b-squenme-en-los-libros-no-los-lean-por-favor-si/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [“Oh, Buenos Aires, I have traveled around the world, but I’ve never been separated from you,” said Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges. And Saint…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-jodorowsky/oh-buenos-aires-i-have-traveled-around-the-world-but-i-ve-never-been/) [Alejandro Jodorowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-jodorowsky/) > [“Perhaps, as Borges concludes in his story, it is forgetting, not remembering, that is the essence of what makes us human.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/perhaps-as-borges-concludes-in-his-story-it-is-forgetting-not/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [“As Borges has taught us, all the books in the library are contemporary. Great poems are like granaries: they are always ready to enlarge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/as-borges-has-taught-us-all-the-books-in-the-library-are-contemporary/) [William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/) > [ I would say that Edgar Allan Poe, \[Georges\] Perec, Thomas Pynchon, and \[Jorge Luis\] Borges are all boy-writers. 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They just don't - novels that want to "show" something, that want to "argue" something specific. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergio-chejfec/novels-with-a-thesis-don-t-interest-me-they-just-don-t-novels-that/) [Sergio Chejfec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-chejfec/) > [For me, it's a way to find a fiction within a fiction. 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It seems to me that real nature doesn't exist anymore, this idea of "the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergio-chejfec/one-must-distance-oneself-from-the-idea-of-strict-realism-it-seems-to/) [Sergio Chejfec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-chejfec/) > [“In general, I know that when speaking of private and opposing worlds, one tends to refer to divided, sometimes even irreconcilable facets of personality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergio-chejfec/in-general-i-know-that-when-speaking-of-private-and-opposing-worlds/) [Sergio Chejfec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-chejfec/) > [I find that, for me, it is this concept of borrowed or built life, life on loan, that gets me writing. It's similar to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergio-chejfec/i-find-that-for-me-it-is-this-concept-of-borrowed-or-built-life-life/) [Sergio Chejfec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-chejfec/) [Explore all 23 Sergio Chejfec quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-chejfec/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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