The House of Asterion
A short story retelling the Minotaur myth from the monster's perspective.
Jorge Luis Borges’s short story “The House of Asterion” (original Spanish title: “La casa de Asterión”) retells the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur from the Minotaur’s point of view. It first appeared in 1947 in the literary magazine *Los Anales de Buenos Aires* and was later included in Borges’s 1949 collection *The Aleph*. Among Borges’s shortest works, the story was composed in two days and earned mostly favorable reviews from contemporary critics and fellow authors.
The narrator, Asterion, presents himself as a hermit unfairly avoided by society, apparently unaware of his own monstrous appearance. He recalls that when he once left his house, the common people became so agitated that he now stays inside, believing his royal birth sets him apart. He describes his solitary days: running through corridors, pretending to sleep, and sometimes imagining that “the other Asterion” visits and receives a tour of the house. Asterion details his home—no locked doors, many corridors and rooms, pools, and courtyards—and claims both the house and the outside world repeat infinitely, with only himself and the sun being unique. He wonders if he created the world and then forgot it. He views death as a religious redemption, joyfully delivering nine sacrificial men from evil while awaiting his prophesied “redeemer,” Theseus. The story ends abruptly with a line from Theseus to Ariadne, noting how the monstrous Minotaur barely fought back.
In the epilogue to *The Aleph*, Borges cited *The Minotaur*, an 1885 painting by English artist George Frederic Watts, as the inspiration for the story and its sad protagonist. The painting shows the Minotaur as a solitary, lonely figure leaning on a parapet, staring at the sea while clutching a crushed bird. Borges wrote the story during his turbulent relationship with Argentine writer Estela Canto. They met in 1944, and Borges proposed a year later, but the relationship ended in July 1946 when Canto grew resentful of Borges’s mother, whom she saw as overly controlling. Biographer Edwin Williamson suggested that Canto’s desertion and Borges’s resulting unhappiness influenced the story’s themes of extreme loneliness and the desire for liberation from a monotonous existence.
- Author
- Jorge Luis Borges
- Original title
- La casa de Asterión
- First published
- 1947
- Publication
- Los Anales de Buenos Aires
- Collection
- The Aleph (1949)
- Genre
- Short story
- Based on
- Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur
Lore & Background
The story explores themes of death, redemption, and the nature of monstrosity. Its narrative style has been referred to as a 'literary puzzle', with the narrator's identity not fully revealed until the end. Literary critic Gene H. Bell-Villada noted that 'there is no instance of a major author so inverting the hero–monster relationship' prior to 'The House of Asterion'. The narrator, Asterion, introduces himself as a hermit unfairly shunned by society, but seems unaware of his monstrous appearance. He describes his house as having no locked doors, many corridors and rooms, pools, and courtyards, and he comes to see death as a religious redemption, joyfully delivering from evil the sacrificial nine men while happy to await his own prophesied 'redeemer' in Theseus.
Reader's Guide
The House of Asterion is significant for its inversion of the hero–monster relationship, a technique that literary critic Gene H. Bell-Villada noted had no major precedent. By presenting the Minotaur as a sympathetic, lonely narrator unaware of his own monstrosity, Borges blurs the line between human and monster, eliciting empathy for a creature traditionally seen as a villain. The story's structure, described as an 'assemblage of clues' and a 'literary puzzle', mirrors a labyrinth that the reader must penetrate to understand the narrator's identity. Its exploration of themes such as death, redemption, and the nature of monstrosity, along with its use of an unnatural narrator, has made it a notable example of Borges's narrative technique. The story's legacy includes its influence on later works that similarly invert traditional mythological roles.
Did You Know?
- The story was written over a period of two days in 1947 after Borges discovered he had two blank pages to fill in Los Anales de Buenos Aires.
- Borges's inspiration for the story was The Minotaur, an 1885 painting by English artist George Frederic Watts.
- The original Spanish-language version was accompanied by an illustration by Austrian artist Marie Elisabeth Wrede depicting Asterion slumped on the ground with his head covered by a shroud.
- Borges replaced the phrase 'los griegos' (the Greeks) with 'los hombres' (the men) in an early draft to better disguise the narrator's identity.
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