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Summary: A brainiac's delight
Review: Borges is not quite like any other author I've ever read. Some of his influences appear to have been Swift (in his brilliant, mock high-serious parodies of scholarly writings) and E.T.A. Hoffman (in the often arcane subject matter of his stories, and in their sheer weirdness). He shares with his contemporary, Nabokov, great stylistic elegance and a love of intellectual puzzles. And he's clearly influenced the work of a host of artists, writers, and thinkers: the Foucault of "What Is An Author?," Stanley Fish's reader response theories, the paintings of Remedios Varo, the novels of Auster and Pynchon, even the recent film "Memento," all bear unmistakable traces of his influence. Perhaps the writer Borges most resembles is Kafka - he and Kafka were masters of the short story, managing in a few taut pages to pack a dazzling breadth and depth of ideas, effects, and implications. Most significantly of all, both Borges and Kafka are in many ways sui generis. So you really must READ Borges (who, shockingly, never won the Nobel Prize) to get a full measure of his originality. His stories are mysterious, elliptical, hauntingly beautiful. The best of them are capable of expanding the boundaries of consciousness by forcing the reader to question the nature of knowledge, of time, of identity, of reality itself. In short, the effect is, as I believe they called it way back in the 60s, a mindf***. If you've never read Borges before, "Labryrinths" is an excellent place to start, as it includes not only many of his most memorable stories, but some astute pieces of literary criticism ("The Argentine Writer and Tradition"), as well as his short, fable-like "Parables" (of which, for me, the most resonant are "Everything and Nothing" and "Borges and I"). The heart of this collection, though, are stories like "Pierre Menard, Author of the 'Quixote,'" "The Library of Babylon," and "Funes the Memorious." They contain images that will haunt your dreams.
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Summary: Strange Days
Review: Borges is quite possibly the finest writer of the 20th century. His anti-realist work, like that of Kafka, illustrates the fears and anxieties of our chaotic modernist age. All of Borges' stories are, at their most basic level, about the conflict between illusion and reality. In "Labyrinths" Borges is fascinated by the idea of the labyrinth, a construction intentionally created to confound man. His stories envision the universe as a kind of labyrinth, yet this view is not entirely pessimistic. "I believe that in the idea of a labyrinth there is hope or salvation," said Borges in an interview. "If we can be absolutely certain that our universe is an orderly one, we can have hope for personal salvation." The stories of Borges challenge traditional ideas of memory and immortality. In "Funes the Memorious," a boy is driven to madness because of his perfect memory: "He could reconstruct all his dreams. Two or three times he had reconstructed a whole day; he never hesitated; but each reconstruction had required a whole day." Borges' stories reflect his dark personal vision of man's position in a universe of chaos. "I have venerated the gradual invention of God," he writes. "Also of Heaven and Hell (an immortal renumeration, an immortal punishment). They are admirable and curious designs of man's imagination." Borges would like to believe that our universe is an orderly one but, in the end, he knows that it is not. We can never be absolutely certain that we fit in with any grand design, at least not until further notice. And if there is a center to our universe, then, in the words of Borges, "That terrible center is the Minotaur."
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Summary: The ideal fusion of poetry and science, beauty and paradox..
Review: Borges' magisterial collection of short stories, Labyrinths, is an enticingly diverse alchemy of erudition and elegance. No one interested in literature should waste any time before reading "The Library of Babel", and as for "The Zahir"- remember that the cliche 'unforgettable' is a mixed blessing. Prepare to have your life changed forever
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Summary: It will likely take several readings...
Review: For the stories to settle in. Borges, in my opinion, exemplifies post-modern thought even better than Lyotard and Derrida. His style is very different, although that could be due in part to translation, and really forces you to have an open mind. It is interesting to note the sheer number of people highly influenced by Borges. From Hofstadter to Jantsch his ideas seem to have influenced many; you are unlikely to escape unscathed. There are, if I remember correctly, at least 40 stories in here. I suspect it will take a while to read them all and longer to understand them but it is well worth the journey.
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Summary: How Does One Critique Perfection?
Review: I believe it is in the introduction of Labyrinths where it is said that the reasons Borges never wrote a novel were because his short stories were so clear, so concise, that they needed no further elaboration and also that he possessed a sort of "lofty laziness." Every story he wrote is a masterpiece of precision and concision. There are no words used in vain, no superfluous ramblings (as I perhaps am indulging in) no word lest it has a purpose. And paradoxically, like a Borges story, within this laconic style, exists an infinite amount of richness and beauty. Take, for example, "The Library of Babel," with its honeycombs of rooms filled with books. A few pages allows Borges to complete this idea. But while the story may be short, its interpretations, its ideas, its consequences and beauties (like the Library itself) can never be exhausted. One could perhaps say that this story reflects the fact that mans life is like a book of which he can only read up to a certain point. One could perhaps say that the world, by the desire of human beings is a construct of words and language, not of protons and electrons. One may also equally argue that this story illustrates how knowledge may never be completely destroyed since there always exists a "book" in the Library which mimics it. Borges has been discussed and cited not only in classes on Literature but also in classes on aesthetics, metaphysics, epistemology, etc and rightly so. And although his ideas may not be new (he, himself, believed that all stories are fundamentally the same) his passion and imagination are without peer. One never gets the sense, in any of his writings, of reading a pedant who is hostile to any assault on his intelligence. Rather, one sees him as a traveller, one with almost childlike curiosity and awe towards that which he sees, who so greatly desires to experience the innocent beauty of engaging in new ideas.
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Summary: Can I Just Say, "Wow"?
Review: I first came across Borges "Dreamtigers" when I was in college. I remember liking it but not really getting much out of it. Now, almost 10 years later reading "Labyrinths," it's all starting to make sense. May I just say, "Wow!"
This is incredibly compact and thoughtful writing. I almost wrote "fiction" but even when it's classified that way, it isn't really just "fiction." Borges has developed a whole new genre - the fictional. In other words, his works sometimes have fictitious elements (characters, plots, etc.) but so many elements (often ideas) are nonfictional or nonplot orientated, that one can't resort to the old classification.
These are incredible stories every educated person should tackle. Just wait until you're ready. You may have to read a 4 page story a few times to unlock its mysteries but once you find that key... AMAZING!
Some favorites: "Garden of Forking Paths," "Lottery of Babylon," "Circular Ruins," "Library of Babel"and "The Secret Miracle." Most of his most famous stories are here! Enjoy!
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Summary: I had the pleasure to read borges
Review: I had the pleasure to read borges in his native languaje (Spanish). I even have the honor to consider him one of my own, since im from Argentina. Sometimes I regret that Maradona is a better example of an Argentinian than Borges, and better known worldwide.
I first red Borges when i was 15 (im 17 now), i started with "The Aleph", and i just didnt have the intelectaul requirements to understand it. Buy right now im reading "Personal Anthology", and i find it simply wonderfull.
His obsession with Mirrors, Cats and Labyrinths its very intresting. His conception of the world is strange and difficult to describe, and his love for knowledge and languajes is outstanding.
Borges gave his life to literature, and he died saying "I wasnt happy... books took my life". He took a sacrifice to teach others. He gave his whole life to his readers, and i, as a reader, am very very greatfull. Literature would have a huge hole without this genious of literature.
I apologize for any grammar mistakes... this is not my native languaje, but i thought an Argentine perpective of Borges was, at least usefull, if not necessary.
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Summary: Exceptional Literature. A Work of Genius
Review: I have difficulty imagining a world without the literature of Borges. It would be incomplete. His works - so unique, so eclectic, so intellectually stimulating, and so enjoyable - seem so essential. Jorge Luis Borges is one of the great writers of the twentieth century. His literary works include short stories, essays, and poetry, but not novels. He was never awarded the Nobel Literature Prize, a rather remarkable failure by the Nobel Committee. Borges will be read and respected long after many Nobel Prize winners of the last century have been forgotten. "Labyrinths" is an exceptional collection, great as an introduction to Borges, but equally suitable for the reader already familiar with his works. It consists of 23 of his best known stories, ten literary essays, eight short parables, an elegy to Borges from Borges himself, and a very useful bibliography. The detailed bibliography helps make Borges' works more accessible. In the last fifty years Borges' works in English have been published as a confusing mix of overlapping collections, largely due to complications regarding publishing rights. Translations also differ. The first sentence in The Form of the Sword (from Ficciones) - "His face was crossed with a rancorous scar: a nearly perfect ashen arc which sank into his temple on one side and his cheek on the other" - is recognizable, but transformed in The Shape of the Sword (from Labyrinths) - "A spiteful scar crossed his face: an ash-colored and nearly perfect arc creased his temple at one tip and his cheek at the other." While both translations are good, I suspect that the effort to master Spanish would be paid in full by the joy of reading Borges in his native language. Borges is difficult to characterize, but terms like metaphysical, philosophical, erudite, literate, unexpected, mysterious, and haunting are common adjectives. Like Franz Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe, and Umberto Eco, Borges offers unique perspectives and insights that startle us with originality and genius. He creates worlds that range from plausible to implausible to simply impossible, but under the spell of his imagination we accept unreality and illusion. Borges should be read sparingly. The reader should peruse "Labyrinths" over time, rather than hurrying from story to story. There is no need to hurry as you undoubtedly will revisit these stories and essays. I find I return to Borges again and again with awe and appreciation, almost as though I am discovering him for the first time. I cannot imagine a world without Borges.
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Summary: An example of the King's New Clothes ?
Review: I have read and enjoyed a wide variety of literature in my lifetime, but never before have I found such rubbish masquerading as itellectual work. David Bickford. UK.
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Summary: A flight in an unusual world: a library
Review: I read "Labyrints" three times in my life, and every time it was incredibly different, every time I got lost in that weird world that is Borges' mind, every time I was amazed by the genius of this author, every time this book changed me and I think it's going to chang you too.
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