Essai: Reflections on fiction, representation, and organization studies: An essay with special reference to the work of Jorge Luis Borges

This essai examines how Borges' narrative fiction may contribute to a recon ceptualization of organizational interpretation and representation, and thu s complexity the thinking of both organizational theorists and practitioner s. This exploration is situated against the background of an increasing awa reness of the fictionality of organizational life, and a sensitivity toward s the representational practices employed by organizational scholars as the y serf; to construct persuasive accounts of the theory and practice of orga nization. By pushing standard interpretative and representational practices to their limits, we can reveal their arbitrariness (and sometimes absurdit y), and thus open up new positions of intelligibility. In the denatured con texts of the digital economy, Borges' fantastic fictions appear closer to t emporal experience than the authoritative discourses with Which mainstream organizational discourse has accustomed us.