The Braider by Ricardo Güiraldes, 1915
The magic trick:
Closing the story with unanswered questions
I like a story that leaves the reader asking questions. Not everything has to be neatly sewn up.
Well, “The Braider” literally closes with questions. Three of them, to be exact. They aren’t necessarily questions of plot. They are questions surrounding Núñez, the titular braider. They aren’t meant to be answered. They are more eternal in nature. It doesn’t frustrate the reader. It only adds to the mystique and unknowable aura surrounding our hero. And that’s quite a trick on Güiraldes’s part.
The selection:
The strange and inexplicable image of the gesture with which the old man cuddled his first and last work. Was it an attempt not to leave behind something he considered inferior? Was it out of love? Or was it simply the artist’s desire to be buried with his most intimate creation?
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