Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, is a book by Jorge Luis Borges, which appears to share many themes, and indeed character names with Lost.
In the story, an encyclopedia article about a mysterious country called Uqbar is the first indication of Orbis Tertius, a massive conspiracy of intellectuals to imagine (and thereby create) a world: Tlön. This is where the first connection is made, as Uqbar could in fact be the island.
One of the major themes of "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is that ideas ultimately manifest themselves in the physical world and the story is generally viewed as a parabolic discussion of Berkeleian idealism — and to some degree as a protest against totalitarianism. Now here is our second link to Lost. At first, there doesn’t appear to be a connection, however, George Berkeley, who is the founder of Berkelelian idealism, was heavily influenced by John Locke. Who also had a heavy influence on David Hume, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. But more on that later.
"Tlön, Uqbar..." has the structure of a detective fiction set in a world going mad. Although the story is quite short, it makes allusions to many leading intellectual figures both in Argentina and in the world at large, and takes up a number of themes more typical of a novel of ideas. Most of the ideas engaged are in the areas of language, epistemology, and literary criticism. While not always a central theme on Lost, there are times when it does indeed feel like Detective fiction, in that we rarely find out any information before our main characters.
Language while at first, seeming like a minor theme in Lost, is actually a major part of the story, not so much in that many languages are spoken through out the show, but rather the way language is used. Often language in lost is used as a way to misdirect both the viewers and our main characters.
Epistemology is also a major theme in Lost. It’s a philosophy which posits that somewhere between truth and belief lies knowledge. There is much more to it than that, but I will post a wiki link at the end of this undoubtedly very long theory for a more in depth explanation.
The story unfolds as a first-person narrative by a fictive version of Borges himself. Events and facts are revealed roughly in the order that the narrator becomes aware of them, or becomes aware of their relevance. The bulk of the story is from the point of view of 1940, the year the story was written and published. A postscript is from the point of view of the same narrator, anachronistically writing in 1947. The timing of events in Borges's first-person story is approximately from 1935 to 1947; the plot concerns events going back as far as the early 17th century and culminating in 1947. As we see on lost, the story also unfolds more or less in the first person. We have more than one central character with Lost however, so we get different perspectives. As I mentioned earlier, we rarely find out anything before the characters themselves have put it together.
The bulk of the story in Lost is also told “in the past” according to our perspective. In addition to that, the Lost experience could relate to the postscript which takes place 7 years after the main events of the book.
Looking at Lost, the story goes back to the 19th century(possibly earlier, as yet unknown) with the arrival of the ship, The Black Rock. Though the 4 toed statue could be a big hint that the story has been taking place over a much longer period of time.
In the story, Uqbar initially appears to be an obscure region of Iraq or of Asia Minor. In casual conversation with Borges, Bioy Casares recalls that a heresiarch (leader of a heretical sect) in Uqbar had declared that "mirrors and copulation are abominable, since they both multiply the numbers of men." I have no direct connection between Lost and this section, however, this could relate in some way to the inability of women to give birth on the island. But now that I think about it, I don’t recall seeing any mirrors in otherville, please feel free to correct me if this is wrong.
Tlön is a world of Berkeleian idealism with one critical omission: it lacks the omnipresent, perceiving deity on whom Berkeley relied as a point of view demanding an internally consistent world. This infinitely mutable world is tempting to a playful intellect, and its "transparent tigers and ... towers of blood"[8] appeal to baser minds, but a Tlönic world view requires denying most of what would normally be considered common sense reality. I could be wrong, and these could simply be metaphorical, however, I believe this “transparent tiger” could be a connection to the smoke monster. Also the towers of blood could be the pylons around otherville. I’ve not actually read the book yet, so as I said, these could be simply metaphorical. However, I’m sure everyone who watches Lost can agree, while watching Lost one is required to throw common sense out the window.
In the anachronistic postscript, the narrator and the world have learned, through the emergence of a letter, that Uqbar and Tlön are invented places, the work of a "benevolent secret society"[9] conceived in the early 17th century, and numbering Berkeley among its members. (Although the society is part of Borges's fiction, Berkeley and other named members are real historical figures.) The narrator learns that as the society's work began, it became clear that a single generation wasn't sufficient to articulate the entire country of Uqbar. Each master therefore agreed to elect a disciple who would carry on his work and also perpetuate this hereditary arrangement. This could easily connect to the others. Though we know fairly little about them, we do know they NEED children for some reason. If this theory turns out to be correct, I believe they will be the future generations of Others attempting to alter reality to whatever end they have in mind. This could also explain why the others bring people in from outside as they are now unable to give birth on the island.
While the fictional Borges and his academic colleagues pursue their interesting speculations about the epistemology, language, and literature of Tlön, the rest of the world gradually learns about the project and begins to adopt the Tlönic culture, an extreme case of ideas affecting reality. In the epilogue set in 1947, Earth is in the process of becoming Tlön. This would seem to relate to the Losties in their quest to find out all they can about the island and the mysterious events which take place on the island. If this theory turns out to be correct, then we won’t know what’s happening to the outside world(and if it’s changing) until either the end or very close to the end of the series.
Much of the story engages with the philosophical idealism of George Berkeley, perhaps best known for questioning whether a tree falling unobserved in the forest makes a sound. (Berkeley, an Anglican bishop, resolved that question to his own satisfaction by saying that there is a sound because God is always there to hear it.) Berkeley's philosophy privileges perceptions over any notion of the "thing in itself." Immanuel Kant accused Berkeley of going so far as to deny objective reality. If the smoke monster knocks down a tree, and none of the losties are around to hear it, does it make a sound?
In the imagined world of Tlön, an exaggerated Berkeleian idealism without God passes for common sense. The Tlönian view recognizes perceptions as primary and denies the existence of any underlying reality. At the end of the main portion of the story, immediately before the postscript, Borges stretches this toward its logical breaking point by imagining that, "Occasionally a few birds, a horse perhaps, have saved the ruins of an amphitheater" by continuing to perceive it.[14] Besides commenting on Berkeley's philosophy, this and other aspects of Borges' story can be taken as a commentary on the ability of ideas to influence reality. For example, in Tlön there are objects known as hrönir[15] that arise when two different people find the "same" lost object in different places. As far as we’ve seen, the others worship no gods. Ideas influencing reality appears to be a major theme in the show. I was not willing to accept the manifestation theory myself until I came across this(thanks to DarkUFO and his blog). Now I’m beginning to see how it could be possible if imagination can indeed influence reality in the Lost universe.
As for the hrönir, I believe we may have seen one already, possibly more than one. The major one, is the photo of Desmond and Penny. Desmond has the picture on the island, but in his “flashback” he gave it to Penny. Is it possible that there are 2 of the same object, one in the “real world” and one on the island, aka Uqbar? In addition to that, there’s the presence of odd boxes(again, thank you DarkUFO for posting the pictures) appearing in multiple peoples flashbacks as well as being on the island(in the swan I believe). If these boxes are indeed “artifacts”, then what is their purpose in Tlön(aka the world to come)?
Borges imagines a Tlönite working his way out of the problem of solipsism by reasoning that if all people are actually aspects of one being, then perhaps the universe is consistent because that one being is consistent in his imagining. This is, effectively, a near-reconstruction of the Berkeleian God: perhaps not omnipresent, but bringing together all perceptions that do, indeed, occur. This would seem to indicate the presence of “Fate” in Lost. Not so much a force, but rather a universal consciousness.
Like many of Borges's works, the story challenges the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. It mentions several quite real historical human beings (himself, his friend Bioy Casares, Thomas de Quincey, et al.) but often attributes fictional aspects to them; the story also contains many fictional characters and others whose factuality may be open to question. I would think the connection here is obvious. Lost, and the lost experience both in a way, challenge our sense of reality. At times the events seem very rooted in reality, and at other times it seems that almost anything is possible.
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While this might seem quite enough material for any short story, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" also engages a number of other related themes. The story begins and ends with issues of reflection, replication, and reproduction — both perfect and imperfect — and the related issue of the power of language and ideas to make or remake the world. I think it’s safe to say that Lost shares the “reflection, replication, and reproduction” theme. Reflection – the flashbacks. Replication – their(the losties) actions on the island are often influenced by “real world” situations they’ve been through. Reproduction – they often make the same mistakes they made in the “real world”.
Anyone who wishes to have more information should follow these links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tl%C3%B6n%2C_Uqbar%2C_Orbis_Tertius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology
Theory by King of Bob
