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pattern to track the criminals) to lure Lönnrot to this place. Lönnrot becomes calm in the face of his death and declares that
Scharlach made his maze too complex: instead of a four sided rhombus it should have been but a single line of murders, with each subsequent murder taking place on the halfway
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However, Lönnrot isn't convinced that the spree is at an end, as the
Tetragrammaton contains four letters—two of them being the same letter repeated. Furthermore, he surmises that the murders may actually have taken place on the fourth of December, January, and February, respectively, since a new day
314:. When a rabbi is killed in his hotel room on the third of December, Lönnrot is assigned to the case. Based on a cryptic message left on the rabbi's typewriter—"The first letter of the name has been uttered"—the detective determines that the murder was not accidental. He connects this with the
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pattern. Appearances are misleading, however. By following what seem to be clues, the detective falls victim to his belief in abstract reason and to the man whom he presumes to be a criminal mastermind. In this way, "Death and the
Compass" both observes and inverts the conventions of detective
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Scharlach reveals that Lönnrot arrested his brother—who then died in prison—and that
Scharlach swore to avenge his death. Killing the rabbi was accidental, but Scharlach used Lönnrot's tendency to over-intellectualize (a police report in the newspaper clued him in to the fact that Lönnrot was
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Exactly one month later, on the third of
January, a second murder takes place with the message "The second letter of the name has been uttered" left at the crime site. Predictably, the same thing happens on the third of February, with the message reading "The last letter of the name has been
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point (A 8 km from B, C 4 km from each, D 2 km from A and C). Lönnrot says that philosophers have been lost on this line, so a simple detective should feel no shame to do the same (a reference to
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Lönnrot arrives at the site a day in advance, prepared to surprise the murderers. He is grabbed in the dark by two henchmen, and
Scharlach emerges from the shadows.
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In the meantime, the detective's office receives an anonymous tip to view the locations of the murders on a map, revealing that each coincides to the point of an
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in Borges's writings as an allusion to the
Argentine frontier, and by extension, as a symbol of solitude, lawlessness, and fate).
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In the story, a detective, Erik Lönnrot, attempts to solve a mysterious series of murders which seem to follow a
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In 2000, Jorge
Leandro Colás directed his own version of the short story for Film Noir Producciones,
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made a 55-minute
English-language adaptation, suitable for television. Four years later,
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Lönnrot is a famous detective in an unnamed city that may or may not be
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directed a 33-minute film adaptation of "Death and the
Compass" called
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performed an adaptation of "Death and the Compass" on Radio Free Oz.
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The Western canon : the books and school of the ages
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David A. Boruchoff, "In Pursuit of the Detective Genre:
477:(1st Riverhead ed.). New York: Riverhead Books.
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in May 1942, it was included in the 1944 collection
56:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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322:, and with his criminal nemesis Red Scharlach.
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1144:Works originally published in Sur (magazine)
640:An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain
1094:Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge
1054:Adrogue, con ilustraciones de Norah Borges
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514:
116:Learn how and when to remove this message
19:For the film adaptation by Alex Cox, see
402:adapted "Death and the Compass" for the
1001:The Analytical Language of John Wilkins
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302:named it his favorite story by Borges.
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318:, the unspeakable four-letter name of
248:title: "La muerte y la brĂşjula") is a
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459:Inti: Revista de Literatura Hispánica
429:, later expanded into a feature film.
276:(Autumn 1954). A new translation, by
16:1942 short story by Jorge Luis Borges
809:The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths
760:Story of the Warrior and the Captive
619:Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote
268:. It was translated into English by
54:adding citations to reliable sources
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13:
1134:Short stories by Jorge Luis Borges
423:turned his first adaptation into
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675:Theme of the Traitor and the Hero
1149:Short stories adapted into films
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1083:Jorge Guillermo Borges (father)
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41:needs additional citations for
1078:Leonor Acevedo Suarez (mother)
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566:A Universal History of Infamy
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252:by Argentine writer and poet
879:The Gospel According to Mark
330:begins at sunset within the
21:Death and the Compass (film)
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654:The Garden of Forking Paths
612:The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim
461:, no. 21 (1985), pp. 13-26.
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605:Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
256:(1899–1986). Published in
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1040:Book of Imaginary Beings
1026:Historia de la eternidad
1008:A New Refutation of Time
823:The Man on the Threshold
583:On Exactitude in Science
1033:Borges on MartĂn Fierro
710:The Sect of the Phoenix
696:Three Versions of Judas
471:Bloom, Harold. (1995).
457:of Jorge Luis Borges,"
406:science fiction series
131:"Death and the Compass"
65:"Death and the Compass"
1110:Borges and mathematics
802:The Writing of the God
633:The Lottery in Babylon
455:La muerte y la brĂşjula
434:La Muerte y la BrĂşjula
151:La muerte y la brĂşjula
1088:Norah Borges (sister)
922:There Are More Things
774:The House of Asterion
682:Death and the Compass
668:The Form of the Sword
426:Death and the Compass
242:Death and the Compass
965:Shakespeare's Memory
948:Shakespeare's Memory
647:The Library of Babel
376:The Firesign Theatre
369:Dramatic adaptations
339:equilateral triangle
274:New Mexico Quarterly
231:Published in English
50:improve this article
863:Dr. Brodie's Report
661:Funes the Memorious
280:, was published in
147:Original title
1139:1942 short stories
689:The Secret Miracle
626:The Circular Ruins
576:Man on Pink Corner
347:appears frequently
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994:The Total Library
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781:Deutsches Requiem
537:Jorge Luis Borges
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746:The Dead Man
739:The Immortal
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356:following a
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312:Buenos Aires
309:
306:Plot summary
300:Harold Bloom
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244:" (original
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195:Published in
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48:Please help
43:verification
40:
1018:Other works
958:Blue Tigers
842:Dreamtigers
557:collections
555:short story
383:Paul Miller
358:kabbalistic
345:(the south
295:kabbalistic
250:short story
190:Publication
184:short story
137:Short story
1128:Categories
1105:Pedro Mata
1047:Labyrinths
441:References
326:uttered."
283:Labyrinths
215:Media type
76:newspapers
987:Yo, JudĂo
901:The Other
830:The Aleph
795:The Zahir
767:Emma Zunz
729:The Aleph
717:The South
595:Ficciones
415:In 1992,
404:CBC Radio
398:In 1984,
391:starring
388:Spiderweb
381:In 1976,
374:In 1967,
265:Ficciones
207:Publisher
161:Argentina
106:June 2020
1061:El Golem
929:The Disk
816:The Wait
553:Original
493:32013000
421:Alex Cox
417:Alex Cox
290:, 1962.
226:May 1942
177:Genre(s)
167:Language
1071:Related
908:Ulrikke
703:The End
343:rhombus
246:Spanish
181:Mystery
171:Spanish
157:Country
90:scholar
979:Essays
491:
481:
92:
85:
78:
71:
63:
218:Print
97:JSTOR
83:books
489:OCLC
479:ISBN
234:1954
69:news
320:God
259:Sur
200:sur
139:by
52:by
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