|
Labyrinths (short Story Collection)
''Labyrinths'' (1962, 1964, 1970, 1983) is a collection of short stories and essays by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. It was translated into English, published soon after Borges won the International Publishers' Prize with Samuel Beckett. It includes, among other stories, " Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", "The Garden of Forking Paths", and " The Library of Babel", three of Borges's most famous stories. The edition, published only in English, was edited by James E. Irby and Donald A. Yates, with a preface by André Maurois of the Académie française and an introduction by Irby. Contents Besides the different stories and essays by Borges mentioned below, the book also contains a preface and introduction, an elegy for Borges, a chronology of Borges's life, and a bibliography. Stories #" Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" #"The Garden of Forking Paths" #" The Lottery in Babylon" #" Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" #" The Circular Ruins" #" The Library of Babel" #" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, () and (), published in the 1940s, are collections of short stories exploring motifs such as dreams, labyrinths, Indeterminism, chance, infinity, archives, mirrors, fictional writers and mythology. Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and have had a major influence on the magical realism, magical realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature.Theo L. D'Haen (1995) "Magical Realism and Postmodernism: Decentering Privileged Centers", in: Louis P. Zamora and Wendy B. Faris, ''Magical Realism: Theory, History and Community''. Duhan and London, Duke University Press, pp. 191–208. Born in Buenos Aires, Borges later moved with his family to Switzerland in 1914, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Circular Ruins
"The Circular Ruins" () is a short story by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. First published in the literary journal '' Sur'' in December 1940, it was included in the 1941 collection ''The Garden of Forking Paths'' () and the 1944 collection ''Ficciones''. It was first published in English in '' View'' (Series V, No. 6 1946), translated by Paul Bowles. Since publication, it has become one of Borges's best-known stories. The story is about a man who gradually dreams another man into existence in the ruins of an ancient temple. Though he is successful, the dreamer realizes at the story's conclusion that he himself is someone else's dream. Critics have interpreted "The Circular Ruins" as exploring themes of philosophical idealism, Gnosticism or kabbalism, and creativity. Plot A man arrives by canoe at the burned ruins of an ancient temple. The temple is centered on the statue of an ambiguous deity that appears to be a tiger or a horse. The man immediately falls asleep; his goal, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deutsches Requiem (short Story)
"Deutsches Requiem" is a short story by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. Published in ''Sur'' in February 1946, it was reprinted in the collection '' El Aleph'' (1949). It is the fictional last testament of Otto Dietrich zur Linde, the one-legged commandant of a Nazi concentration camp. After being tried and convicted of crimes against humanity, zur Linde reflects on his own sins and those of Nazi Germany while he awaits the firing squad. The short story was translated into English by Julian Palley and published in New World Writing N° 14, 1958. Synopsis A member of the German nobility, zur Linde is born in Marienburg, West Prussia in 1908. Raised Lutheran, zur Linde loses his faith in Christianity after reading the writings of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Oswald Spengler. Soon after, he joins the Schutzstaffel. Despite his deep contempt for his fellow SS men, zur Linde persuades himself that the Nazi Party needs men like himself to assure the world a glorious future. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The House Of Asterion
"The House of Asterion" (original Spanish title: "") is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in 1947 in the literary magazine ''Los Anales de Buenos Aires'' and republished in Borges's short story collection ''The Aleph'' in 1949. It is based on the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and is told from the perspective of Asterion, the Minotaur. One of Borges's shortest stories, it was written over a period of two days and received generally positive reviews from contemporary critics and authors. The story explores themes of death, redemption, and the nature of monstrosity. Its narrative style has been referred to as a "literary puzzle", with the narrator's identity not fully revealed until the end of the story. Literary critic Gene H. Bell-Villada noted that "there is no instance of a major author so inverting the hero–monster relationship" prior to "The House of Asterion". Plot summary The narrator, Asterion, begins the sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emma Zunz
"Emma Zunz" is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The tale recounts how its eponymous heroine avenges the death of her father. Originally published in September 1948 in the magazine '' Sur'', it was reprinted in Borges' 1949 collection '' The Aleph''. The story deals with the themes of justice and revenge, and of right and wrong. As in several other short stories, Borges illustrates the difficulty in understanding and describing reality. The story relies on issues of deceit, self-deception and inauthenticity to illustrate this. According to what Borges wrote in the epilogue of ''The Aleph'', the plot of this story was communicated to him by his friend Cecilia Ingenieros. It was translated into English by Donald A. Yates and published in '' Labyrinths'' ( New Directions, 1962). Plot Emma Zunz, a worker at a textile mill, returns home and finds a letter indicating that her father has died in hospital after a Veronal overdose. Emma, overwhelmed by grief, beli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Story Of The Warrior And The Captive
"Story of the Warrior and the Captive" (original Spanish "Historia del Guerrero y la cautiva") is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. It first appeared in 1949 in the short story collection '' El Aleph'' and later appeared in '' Labyrinths''. Plot summary The story compares two figures who eschewed their culture in favor of a foreign culture. The narrator first tells the story of Droctulft, a barbarian who, according to the historical writings of Paul the Deacon, abandoned the barbarian Lombards to join the Byzantine Army and defend the city of Ravenna. The narrator then identifies himself as Borges (one of Borges's many forays into metafiction), and recounts a story that his grandmother had told him. He tells how his grandmother, an Englishwoman living in Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Theologians
"The Theologians" (original title: "Los teólogos") is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. It was featured in the collection '' Labyrinths''. It was originally published in ''Los Annales de Buenos Aires'' in April 1947 and appears in the 1949 short story collection '' The Aleph''. Plot The story follows Aurelian and John of Pannonia, who compete with one another as theologians. Though much of their work is a thinly veiled criticism of one another, the topic of their writing is regarding the heretical factions that appear around them such as the Monotoni, whose heresy is to preach that "history is a circle, and that all things have existed and will exist again", and the Histrioni, who argue that all individuals occupy dual forms – one on earth and one in heaven – and that actions on earth influence heaven. Though at first, Aurelian struggles to put to words the nature of their heresy, he is surprised when a subconscious sentence springs forward that efficientl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Immortal (short Story)
"The Immortal" (original Spanish language, Spanish title: "El inmortal") is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, first published in February 1947, and later in the collection ''El Aleph (book), El Aleph'' in 1949. The story tells about a character who mistakenly achieves immortality and then, weary of a long life, struggles to lose it and writes an account of his experiences. The story consists of a quote, an introduction, five chapters, and a postscript. "The Immortal" has been described as "the culmination of Borges' art" by critic Ronald J. Christ. Plot summary Borges begins by quoting Francis Bacon's ''Essays (Francis Bacon), Essays'', LVIII. "Solomon, Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion." The introduction takes place in London in the first part of June 1929. Herein the following five chapters are pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sect Of The Phoenix
"The Sect of the Phoenix" (original Spanish title: "La secta del Fénix") is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, first published in ''Sur'' in 1952. It was included in the 1956 edition of '' Ficciones'', part two (''Artifices''). The title has also been translated as "The Cult of the Phoenix." Plot summary Borges gives an enigmatic description (or at least, assertion of the existence) of a secret society dating back to ancient times, the members of which "resemble every man in the world" and whose membership consists simply of the performance of a strange ritual. Discussion on meaning Essentially the story is an extended riddle, the mysterious description referring to a commonplace fact (as Borges points out in the prologue to ''Artifices''). The probable and common answer is that the riddle refers to sexual intercourse, and Borges himself confessed as much. However, in relation to the debate on Borges' sexual orientation, it is argued by some that the secre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Versions Of Judas
"Three Versions of Judas" (original Spanish title: "Tres versiones de Judas") is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. It was included in Borges' anthology ''Ficciones'', published in 1944. Like several other Borges stories, it is written in the form of a scholarly article. The story carries three footnotes and quotes many people, some of which are real (like Antônio Conselheiro), some have been concocted from real life (like Maurice Abramowicz, who was once his classmate, and later became a deputy for the Swiss communist party, but is made a French religious philosopher in the story) and some are completely fictitious (like Jaromir Hladík, who is a character from his own story " The Secret Miracle"). Plot summary The story begins as a critical analysis of works of a fictitious writer Nils Runeberg. Nils Runeberg lives in the city of Lund, where he publishes two books: ''Kristus och Judas'' (1904) 'Christ and Judas''and his magnum opus ''Den hemlige Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Secret Miracle
"The Secret Miracle" () is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. The story focuses on an author condemned to death. At the moment of his execution, time freezes, allowing him to finish his masterpiece, though only within his own mind. The story was first published in the magazine '' Sur'' in February 1943 and was collected in ''Ficciones'' (1944). The first English translation (by Harriet de Onís) appeared in 1956 in ''Spanish Stories & Tales'', Pocket Books. Plot A minor Czech author, Jaromir Hladík, is living in Prague when it is occupied by the Nazis in March 1939. Hladík is arrested and charged with being Jewish as well as opposing the Anschluss, and he is sentenced to die by firing squad in one week. Terrified of his impending execution, Hladík spends most of that week picturing it with infinite variations, until he has "died hundreds of deaths". However, Hladík's main concern soon turns to his unfinished play, ''The Enemies'', the story of a ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death And The Compass
"Death and the Compass" (original Spanish title: "La muerte y la brújula") is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986). Published in '' Sur'' in May 1942, it was included in the 1944 collection ''Ficciones''. It was translated into English by Anthony Kerrigan and published in New Mexico Quarterly (Autumn 1954). A new translation, by Donald A. Yates, was published in ''Labyrinths (short story collection)'', New Directions, 1962. In the story, a detective, Erik Lönnrot, attempts to solve a mysterious series of murders which seem to follow a kabbalistic pattern. Appearances are misleading, however. By following what seem to be clues, the detective falls victim to his belief in abstract reason and to the man whom he presumes to be a criminal mastermind. In this way, "Death and the Compass" both observes and inverts the conventions of detective fiction. Literary critic Harold Bloom named it his favorite story by Borges. Plot summary Lönnrot i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
