Ficciones

I had had almost no exposure to the works of Jorge Luis Borges before I read Ficciones, a collection of 17 of the Argentinian author's short fiction pieces, and what I expected was fiction that lived on the line between magic realism and surrealism, with a sense of wonder and mystery to it all. And I got that...but what I also got was wild postmodernism, meta-commentary about books that come to life in the telling, mysteries that are interested in nothing so much as subverting themselves, surprisingly funny satire on pretentious literary criticism, meditations on when something goes from imitation to art, and so, so much more. In short: I expected to be awed; what I didn't expect - but was delighted about - was to have fun. There's so much here to talk about, from the layers and layers of reality that make up "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" to the wildly convoluted (maybe?) mystery pastiche of "Death and the Compass." You'll read something like "The Garden of Forking Paths" which somehow manages to be both a clever murder mystery and also an exploration of fate and choice, and then be knocked askew all over again with the wry comedy of "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote." Sometimes, you're not sure if you're seeing everything that Borges wants you to see; sometimes, you're not sure if there's anything beyond a man delighting himself with his imagination and labyrinthine mind. But whatever it is, you're getting 17 true classics of literature, which will bend your mind in new ways, make you laugh, and upend your expectations, over and over again. It's one of those books where, after a few pages, you say, "oh, that's why everyone talks about it" - and now you want to too.

I feel unfettered praise coming on. So first let me note that not every story in this collection garners five stars from me. Some of them are simply not for me. Some are good but not great. And still others are probably genius but I'm missing some key underlying component which would reveal the secret to me. The man is brilliant, and seemingly more well-read than God, so who can say what all I'm missing? But, I will use my review here to discuss my favorites of the bunch (all of which came from the first portion of the collection, The Garden of Forking Paths, and none of which came from the second portion, Artifices.) These are five-star stories; ones that I have been thinking about since I read them. They are: "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", "The Babylon Lottery", and my favorite of the collection, "The Library of Babel." These are explorations of the mind. Mirrors. Illusions. Dreams, and their dreamers. This is the universe. Chance. Fate. Infinitudes. Fractals. Time. Memory. Divinity. A master of the short work, Borges accomplishes in ten pages what some authors struggle to broach in a thousand. You yearn for more, but the magic lies in the yearning, not in the idea of more. He is a conjuror, Borges, who understands that the question is always more intriguing than the answer, and so he delights in pulling you through each explorative permutation of the question, opening new corridors in your mind and reminding you of the magic of a new thought. Occupying the liminal space between reality and fiction, his stories are as much about what they produce in the reader as they are about what actually appears on the page; more so, even. I finished some of these stories at a loss to describe them. After "The Library of Babel", a mere eight pages, reality was momentarily an alien thing to me. The mind which produced the story seemed so conceptually alien that he felt like an ambassador from some far-flung future writing back to us through time. I had of course heard of Borges before, but I was unaware of what to expect from his stories. As such, I was completely blown away; and more than once. His influence has clearly sent ripples through fiction, through science-fiction, through magical realism, and through many, many creations since his time. And they are fiction, yes, these stories. But often they felt more like a vehicle of exploration; linguistic, philosophical, psychological, metaphysical, religious, mathematical, of course literary. From detective stories to the universe as library, there's a little something of everything here. And I'll certainly be reading more.

Great book!

Jorge Luis Borges' collection "Labyrinths" captivated me with its intricate narratives and philosophical depth. I was delighted to discover that many of the stories from "Ficciones" were also included in this compilation. Revisiting these masterful tales was just as enchanting as my initial encounter, revealing new layers of meaning and complexity with each reading.

Purchased this for a Fiction Writers' Workshop, required by instructor, and my first reading of the works of Jorge Luis Borges. The short stories in this book were very well written and enjoyable. The problem I had was with the first two stories, which read as if they were book reviews on other writing, however, they were part fact, part fiction, mixed in such a way that they appeared to be actual essays, and in fact were fiction; very confusing form. Other than that, it was a good book. As far as the order itself, it was received in a very timely manner and I did receive it within enough time to read the book and be prepared for the next class, so I was really pleased with the shipment/service.

JLB will alter your senses for the better and forever.

Ficciones was the book of the month selected by an incredibly well-read and brilliant man who was brilliant in his manner and discourse. I took one look and it and threw it over my shoulder (very hard if the book is on your Kendell.) However, before I went to the discussion session, I read it, the whole thing, The first part was "living in a dream." I finally realized that Borges' brilliance allowed him to develop scenes in which characters had very different agendas and lived in fantasy instead of reality (at least as I know it.) The fantasy part, part 1, was might like 100 Days of Solitude. The next part was little stories, extremely well written, not dreamy and convoluted but dealing with the everyday mysteries of living. I enjoyed the last section of this book. Do I think you should read it? Well, expect to comb the interest for interpretations from scholarly persons who knew Borges time, family and temperament. Each of the essays help in understanding. Even so, the work is demanding.

Read this in college 32 years ago and still quote it to this day. I became a verified purchaser because I just got it for a friend as a birthday present. We went to Buenos Aires for vacation this summer, because it's been a bucket list city for many more reasons that Borjes, though it was cool to see that he is highly regarded there.

A terrible translation

The book cover was a bit damaged, which makes it less like a new book.

Good layout, convenient format

I've read widely, albeit not deeply, in a wide range of subjects over several years so I have many arcane facts at my disposal. However, Borges is a writer who makes me feel very stupid. I'm reading one of the stories "Three Versions of Judas" and I encounter the name Carpocrates : never heard of him, go to the Wikipedia, discover he's an important Gnostic and then continue my reading only to be stopped at Valerius Soranus which prompts another internet search. Still - there is something undeniably satisfying about reading Borges as there is when one reads one of Poe's strange tales. I also enjoy short story writers like Mavis Gallant who write about much more quotidian matters, but I'm always bewildered about why a Gallant story ends when it does when there is often no clear resolution and it could have concluded at some earlier point in the narrative (at least in this reader's opinion). I read Ficciones in the Kindle edition and encountered a Borgesian confusion while reading "Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote" translated into English by Anthony Bonner. In this story Menard has taken it upon himself to recreate fragments of Cervantes' "Don Quixote" letter by letter, word by word and line by line. We are provided an excerpt from "Don Quixote" in both Spanish and English with Menard's recreation in both Spanish and English, but in the Spanish excerpts the word "imula" appears in one place only to be replaced by "etnula" ( a typo?) in the other. In the context of this particular tale, would the undermining of his text amuse or annoy Borges?

This book is a selection of a great writer's mind and may not be for everyone ( but should be ). Take a dip in a pool of elegant prose.