Emma dropped the paper. Her first impression was of a weak feeling in her stomach and in her knees; then of blind guilt, of unreality, of coldness, of fear; then she wished that it were already the next day. Immediately afterwards she realized that that wish was futile because the death of her father was the only thing that had happened in the world, and it would go on happening endlessly.

Borges was overjoyed and joined demonstrators marching through the streets of Buenos Aires. The Argentine Declaration of Independence in 1816 led to waves of immigration from Europe Asia and the Middle East and in the following decades and the Argentine national identity diversified. For a time Argentinians hesitated to wear band aids for fear friends would ask 'Did the atomic bomb go off in your hand?' A shame because Argentina really has world class scientists.

Borges himself was fluent in several languages. On his return to Argentina in 1921 Borges began publishing his poems and essays in surrealist literary journals. His work embraces the "character of unreality in all literature".