Death and the Compass is a short story written by Jorge Luis Borges. Released in 1942, it is the twelth short story in Borges' collection Ficciones and tells of various murders.
Characters[]
- Erik Lönnrot - a detective
- Red Scharlach - Erik Lönnrot's nemesis
- Comissioner Treviranus
- The harlequins
- Doctor Marcel Yarmolinsky - the first victim
- Daniel Simon Azevedo - the second victim and an associate of Azevedo's
- Gryphius (or Ginzberg) - the third victim
Plot[]
At the Hotel du Nord on the third of December, a delegrate from the Third Talmudic Conference is stabbed to death and his body posed with an "anachronistic cape" covering it. Commissioner Treviranus summons the famous detective Lönnrot to solve the case. Though Treviranus assumes that the murder was a simple burglary, Lönnrot points towards the various texts carried by the delegate as a clue. A piece of paper is found in the delegate's typewritter declaring that "The first letter of the Name has been spoken."
The next murder takes place on the third night of January. A corpse in the same condition as the delegate's is found in the shadow of an ancient paint shop. On Lönnrot's arrival, the corpse is identified as belonging to a thief. Spelled out in chalk on the shop's wall is the declaration that "The second letter of the Name has been spoken".
On the third night of February, Commissioner Treviranus is called by a man named Ginzberg. Ginzberg (whose real name is Gryphius) attempts to tell "an explanation of the two sacrifices" but is cut off by two harlequins kidnapping him. Shortly after this, Gryphius is murdered and the phrase "The last letter of the Name has been spoken" scrawled near his body.
For an entire month, Lönnrot finds little in this mysterious case. On the first of March, the Commissioner receives a letter from one "Baruj Spinoza" which shows a map of the city with a "mystic triangle" formed from the locations of the murders and declares that the murderers will never strike again. Lönnrot scans the letter and declares that he will catch the criminals tomorrow and that they are planning to commit another crime.
Shortly after this, Lönnrot travels to the abandoned villa of Triste-le-Roy. Lönnrot has already figured out that Scharlach was behind the murders. On entering into the villa, Lönnrot is apprehended by the "harlequins" and brought before Red Scharlach. Scharlach reveals that the murders were nothing more than a trap for his hated nemesis. Lönnrot tells his nemesis about the single-lined labyrinth of the Greeks before he is shot and killed by Scharlach.
Sources[]
- Wikipedia