Book Review: Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges

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



Reviews:

Goodreads: Average: 4.46. Mode: 5 stars.
Amazon: Average: 4.5. Mode: 5 stars.

If Jorge Luis Borges had been a computer scientist, he probably would have invented hypertext and the World Wide Web.

Instead, being a librarian and one of the world's most widely read people, he became the leading practitioner of a densely layered imaginistic writing style that has been imitated throughout this century, but has no peer (although Umberto Eco sometimes comes close, especially in Name of the Rose).

Borges's stories are redolent with an intelligence, wealth of invention, and a tight, almost mathematically formal style that challenge with mysteries and paradoxes revealed only slowly after several readings. Highly recommended to anyone who wants their imagination and intellect to be aswarm with philosophical plots, compelling conundrums, and a wealth of real and imagined literary references derived from an infinitely imaginary library.

( Labyrinths, tigers, Zeno's paradox, infinite libraries, the indelibility of memory, the non-existence of time, wizards in lost temples, immortals in lost cities, multiple realities, and questions about matter. How could anyone be audacious enough to try to make movies out of Borges stories, and why haven't more directors tried? )

Verdict: This collection is not light reading. Even the shortest stories will require your full attention. But it's literary mind candy that spans science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective mysteries, literary critique, philosophy, theology, linguistics, and epistemology. I am frankly not sure I absorbed more than a fraction of what Borges was putting out, man -- it was, like, totally radical. Should you read this? Yes! It made my brain hurt, but in a good way. It also made me wish I could read Spanish in the same way that Haruki Murakami makes me wish I could read Japanese -- I am sure there is a lot that is lost in the translation.

This was the first book I completed for the books1001 challenge, and you can see this and other brilliant reviews there. We have 111 participants now, dedicated to reading and reviewing every book on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list by the end of the year. Come join us!

Book Review: Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges

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



Reviews:

Goodreads: Average: 4.46. Mode: 5 stars.
Amazon: Average: 4.5. Mode: 5 stars.

If Jorge Luis Borges had been a computer scientist, he probably would have invented hypertext and the World Wide Web.

Instead, being a librarian and one of the world's most widely read people, he became the leading practitioner of a densely layered imaginistic writing style that has been imitated throughout this century, but has no peer (although Umberto Eco sometimes comes close, especially in Name of the Rose).

Borges's stories are redolent with an intelligence, wealth of invention, and a tight, almost mathematically formal style that challenge with mysteries and paradoxes revealed only slowly after several readings. Highly recommended to anyone who wants their imagination and intellect to be aswarm with philosophical plots, compelling conundrums, and a wealth of real and imagined literary references derived from an infinitely imaginary library.

( Labyrinths, tigers, Zeno's paradox, infinite libraries, the indelibility of memory, the non-existence of time, wizards in lost temples, immortals in lost cities, multiple realities, and questions about matter. How could anyone be audacious enough to try to make movies out of Borges stories, and why haven't more directors tried? )

Verdict: This collection is not light reading. Even the shortest stories will require your full attention. But it's literary mind candy that spans science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective mysteries, literary critique, philosophy, theology, linguistics, and epistemology. I am frankly not sure I absorbed more than a fraction of what Borges was putting out, man -- it was, like, totally radical. Should you read this? Yes! It made my brain hurt, but in a good way. It also made me wish I could read Spanish in the same way that Haruki Murakami makes me wish I could read Japanese -- I am sure there is a lot that is lost in the translation.

This was the first book I completed for the books1001 challenge, and you can see this and other brilliant reviews there. We have 111 participants now, dedicated to reading and reviewing every book on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list by the end of the year. Come join us!