Book Review: Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges

Jan 09, 2011 23:00

One-line summary: A collection of short stories and other writings by an author woefully unfamiliar in the English-speaking world.


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fantasy, highly recommended, books1001, reviews, books, science fiction, literary, jorge luis borges

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Comments 6

fpb January 10 2011, 12:24:28 UTC
No time, sorry. But it does sound fun. I read that collection of Borges translations when I was about eighteen, on the recommendation - believe it or not - of Harlan Ellison, in his infamous Comics Journal interview. That must be the only good thing that interview ever did. I have never forgotten it, of course, and from time to time I go back - I can read Spanish, now. I also have something that would make your mouth water: a collection of fantastic fiction of all kinds, edited by Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares (a writer of slightly less accomplishment, but still a major figure).

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inverarity January 10 2011, 18:23:41 UTC
What is the title?

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fpb January 10 2011, 18:26:36 UTC
Antologia de la literatura fantastica. Looking at my reply, I don't think I made it clear enough that it's in Spanish.

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inverarity January 10 2011, 18:39:33 UTC
Ah, but it has been translated into English. Thanks, I'll have to check it out.

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anonymous January 11 2011, 01:40:47 UTC
Borges is excellent.
I've got a different translation of his stories, which have some of the ones you mentioned, but not all, and I keep going back to the book.
If you can, find "Collected Fictions" translated by Andrew Hurley. I think its published by Penguin Classics, or something.
The collection has a few you didn't mention, like "The Aleph", and "The Maker", that are amazing.
Regarding your review, I definitely agree that Borges is a writer who covers a variety of genres. He's also got, like you said, a very special kind of writing that's fun and pleasing to read without being pretentious or overly convoluted.

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