Robert Kiely's chapter, "Jorge Luis Borges Dictating: No More Time," in his book: Reverse Tradition: Postmodern Fictions and the Nineteenth Century Novel, seems to be dedicated to the critical analysis of the "antihistorical" characteristic prevalent in Borges' writing. (We have seen this very notion of "antihistorical" writing reflected in several elements of Ihab Hassan's Indeterminancies of Postmodernism (i.e. avoidance of closure, ambiguity, discontinuity, revolt...)) Kiely attempts to propose some reason for Borges' rejection of sequential times and the order of history, by equating those characteristics to Borges' reaction against the political situation prevalent during his life (namely, the existence of nazism, fascism, but especially the rule of Perón in Argentina). The entire chapter is structured around this thought - examples are put forth and then referred back to the main proposition. Some key words which seem to indicate this connection throughout the essay are: censorship, authority, "absence of life," and dictatorship. To develop his proposition, Kiely has assumed that (although Borges insists that he kept his political opinions separate from his literary work) the "porousness" of language apparent in Borges' writings could not have filtered his opinions out of his fictional writings.

Kiely proposes that Borges' stories are "mirrors of censorship" (in repudiation of Perón's control) - a general "horror of time" prevalent within his fiction represents his disgust with the time in which he lives. Kiely shows, however, that Borges' attempts to reject the current political climate by "reshuffling" the events which constitute sequential time in his writings (as we have seen throughout our discourse, especially in Borges' "The Garden of Forking Paths," Tlön, Uqbar and Orbis Tertius," and "The Lottery in Babylon.") were very much like the attempts made by Perón to create a climate of improving economic conditions in Argentina, despite their stagnation. Indeed - the author suggests that the city of Tlön (of which we are familiar) may resemble the city of Buenos Aires during Perón's rule. If we relate the Borges' phenomenon a "reshuffled" sequence of time to the phenomenon expressed in Krauss' essay on "The Originality of the Avant-Garde: A Postmodernist Repetition," we may ask ourselves, "If time is reshuffled, where do the originals fall?" We have encountered several works which have played with and around time, such as The Female Man (which takes place in four different worlds simultaneously) and Dictionary of the Khazars (which takes place in an infinite number of worlds, it seems, simultaneously). If Kiely proposes this reason for Borges' repudiation of sequential time, what could explain the prevalence of this phenomena in other postmodern works?

Kiely notes that a reader would have difficulty finding outright political satire in Borges' work. However, Kiely indicates that certain elements apparent in his fictional worlds (such as randomness, unpredictability or sudden reversal) can be viewed as "literary equivalents of oppression and anarchy." The "Lottery of Babylon," is not, the author insists, a political satire. However, Borges does "insidiously" combine the elements of authority and chance in this story.

Borges' writings are described by Kiely as displays of withheld information. He notes that Borges' narrators are truthful about their ignorance, but there seems to be an "authoritative" presence behind the voice of the narrator - one which refuses to give the reader the satisfaction of any type of closure. The power of this authority rests in the fact that it withholds this vital information - that it acts as a "censor."

Kiely observes that an important characteristic of Borges' narratives is an "absence of life," which can be seen as a variation on his repudiation of ordered time. This element is imposed upon the reader by Borges. Death is a paradox which is "dictated" in his works - like an unapproachable "authority." Indeed, many of Borges' writings begin with the death of a character (often the protagonist), and present the conclusion immediately, thus reversing the usual sequence of time. We have seen this phenomenon in "Emma Zunz," since the story of Emma begins for the reader, with the suicide of her father.

Kiely notes that many of Borges' fictional writings contain "disturbances" throughout the composition of the story. His mirrors and labyrinths, although they may imply endlessness, are altered by Borges to remind the reader of the "present state" throughout the reading. This can be seen in "Pierre Menard." We deduced that, although Menard's representation of "Don Quixote" is, in fact, a duplicate of the original, it is still separated from the original by the great amount of time between the two attempts. Kiely notes that the reflection that passes through the "invisible labyrinth" of history, is no longer the original. This brings us back to ponder the question of originality raised by Krauss.

The phenomenon by which Borges writes of the "limitless," yet brings his readers back to the limited, is seen in "Emma Zunz." The element of time, in this story, is certainly not ordered. We may recall from our readings that, although many years have passed between the time Emma's father was jailed and the time he killed himself, the readers' story of Emma occurs in two days. However, Kiely notes that, since the story begins with a type of conclusion (the death of Emma's father) and reshuffles time's sequential nature, the story actually appears to stagnate for the reader. Indeed, Emma does exist "outside of time" as she has sex with the sailor, and the death of her father seems to her that it will continue endlessly. Kiely explains that we are brought back to the limited through Borges' use of "censorious intervention." His remarks at the end of the story are as fictional as the story of Emma. His intervention has prevented any sense of closure for the reader, although Emma feels a sense of closure after having revenged her father's misery.

Kiely concludes his chapter by noting that many of Borges' fictional works contain allusions to his "modern history" (such as the workers' strike in "Emma Zunz") although the information regarding those allusions is withheld like the details of his fictional worlds.