The Congress

"The Congress" (original Spanish title: "El Congreso") is a 1971 short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story is on an utopic universal congress and is seen by critics as a political essay. It was first published in the short story collection The Book of Sand, with Borges claiming it to be "perhaps the most ambitious of the tales in this book." In Milan, Franco María Ricci published the story in a deluxe edition with the letters made of gold. The Congress was Borges' favourite of his stories, or one of his favourites: Plot Alejandro Ferri, the story's narrator, arrives at Buenos Aires in 1899 (Borges' birthdate). There he becomes a journalist and friends with José Fernández Irala, one of his colleagues. One day, Irala invites him to a meeting at "The Congress". Ferri correctly assumes that he isn't referring to the Argentine National Congress, but to something more exclusive.