nomadman
Sophomoric Mystic
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2007
- Messages
- 464
Today marks what would be the 112th birthday of one of the greatest imaginative writers of all time, Argentine poet and visionary Jorge Luis Borges. Throughout a celebrated literary career, Borges wrote a series of scintillating and prescient short stories, that envisioned such ideas as the Internet and non-linear hypertext almost half a century before they became reality.
He also successfully blurred the boundary between the essay and the fictive piece. Many of his stories read like extremely odd accounts of fictional people, places or secret societies, whilst his essays themselves tend to range from such diverse topics as the history of angels to the art of swearing. They can be found in his Selected Non-Fictions, and are well worth checking out.
His stories themselves are available in five volumes: A Universal History of Iniquity, Fictions, The Aleph, Doctor Brodie's Report and The Book of Sand. A 'best of' collection has long been in print under the title Labyrinths and you can also pick up his complete short fiction in the title Collected Fictions. I'd have no hesitation in proclaiming Fictions one of the best short story collections I've ever read, and The Aleph is only a mite less strong. Both deal with what have come to be known as typical Borgesian themes: infinity, identity, time, and the nature of the universe. His latter collections tended to move away from overtly fantastical themes and into the colorful and violent life of his native Argentina, or quiet intensely personal tales of love and loss that are some of his most moving pieces.
Though he never won the Nobel Prize, Borges's influence was vast, in all literary spheres. His admirers included such people as Italo Calvino, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Bruce Chatwin and Gene Wolfe.
If you've yet to pick anything up by Borges, I strongly urge you to do so now. His world is a rich and endlessly intriguing one that will reward you for the rest of your life.
He also successfully blurred the boundary between the essay and the fictive piece. Many of his stories read like extremely odd accounts of fictional people, places or secret societies, whilst his essays themselves tend to range from such diverse topics as the history of angels to the art of swearing. They can be found in his Selected Non-Fictions, and are well worth checking out.
His stories themselves are available in five volumes: A Universal History of Iniquity, Fictions, The Aleph, Doctor Brodie's Report and The Book of Sand. A 'best of' collection has long been in print under the title Labyrinths and you can also pick up his complete short fiction in the title Collected Fictions. I'd have no hesitation in proclaiming Fictions one of the best short story collections I've ever read, and The Aleph is only a mite less strong. Both deal with what have come to be known as typical Borgesian themes: infinity, identity, time, and the nature of the universe. His latter collections tended to move away from overtly fantastical themes and into the colorful and violent life of his native Argentina, or quiet intensely personal tales of love and loss that are some of his most moving pieces.
Though he never won the Nobel Prize, Borges's influence was vast, in all literary spheres. His admirers included such people as Italo Calvino, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Bruce Chatwin and Gene Wolfe.
If you've yet to pick anything up by Borges, I strongly urge you to do so now. His world is a rich and endlessly intriguing one that will reward you for the rest of your life.
