17.1. Bonus Text, "The Lottery in Babylon"

Google celebrated Borges's 112th birthday with this tribute.

I am teaching writing stories this week in the classic manner. The classic manner can be summed up, I think, in three words "Show, don't tell." But it would be kind of a lie to claim that this the only way you can write great stories. Following the classic laws allows anyone to produce good writing; that's why the laws are so great. As an English teacher, I start with the assumption that you are a regular person, not an artist who constantly thinks about writing great stories.

The fact remains, though, that some writers break these rules and get away with it. There are two kinds of artists that ignore rules - bad ones and great ones.

Here's another story about a crazy lottery that totally ignores the rules of the classic short story, by the Argentine genius Jorge Luis Borges, "The Lottery in Babylon." It's probably a little too challenging for most readers because of the vocabulary, but give it a try if you're interested.

It's worth thinking about why Borges gets away with not having a normal plot or characters, and no dialogue.