Memory, imagination and consciousness in Funes the memorial and MeursaultConsciousness separates human beings from the sensorial perception of "rubbish piles". Jorge Luis Borges, in “Funes the Memorious,” and Albert Camus, in “The Stranger,” explore the causes of consciousness. They are philosophers who write fiction to answer the question: “What makes us aware?” An imperfect memory and imagination define our reality. Funes can be aware of other realities because he has a perfect memory. Meursault reveals that the missing element for Funes to possess consciousness is imagination. I will define consciousness, evaluate memory and imagination as essential, discuss metaphor as a manifestation of consciousness, and isolate the effect of awareness of another consciousness. Without memory, we could not compare a past object or idea with a present one. Memory allows us to enhance past objective observations with present sensory perceptions. Since we have an imperfect memory, that is, we cannot remember every detail, we embellish. We give an idea or object from the past an identity independent of the external world because we perceive and imagine it differently from our initial sensory reaction. We change our original reaction with our imagination. Therefore, creative people experience life more vividly. In the process of consciousness, we first remember something imperfectly and then qualify it with other embellished thoughts. The act of thinking, therefore, is not consciousness. Thought is the comparison of one object with another. We are not conscious because we notice a difference between two things. Once we embellish the relationship, however, we create an internal reality that is an imperfect copy of our true sensory reaction. We possess consciousness… middle of paper… Together, Camus and Borges show us that through our imperfect memories and our distorted, lying imaginations, we gain an individual identity. Works Cited Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyrinths: “Funes the Memorful”. New York: New Directions Publishing Co., 1964. Camus, Albert. The stranger. New York: Random House, 1988. Christ, Ronald. The Restricted Act: Borges' Art of Fiction. New York: Lumen Books, 1995. Hart, Thomas R. Jr. "Literary Criticism of Borges." Modern critical visions: Jorge Luis Borges. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 5-20.Jaynes, Julian. The origin of consciousness in the disintegration of the bicameral mind. Boston: Houghton, 1976. Müller, Max. The Science of Thought. London: Longmans Green, 1887. 78-9.Sarte, Jean-Paul. “An explanation of “The Stranger”. Camus. Ed. Germaine Bree. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962.