Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (Penguin Modern Classics)

I could go on praising Borges for many, many pages, but (just as he was), I will be short:
Borges style and content are utterly original: his metaphysical themes, his detached wit and wry humour, his extremely concise writing. Borges predicted the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics in "The Garden of Forking Paths" almost 20 years before Everett and DeWitt. Borges was writing about reader response in "Pierre Menard, Author of The Quixote" more than 20 years before it became a method of literary criticism. In his stories, he often shows off his biblically immense erudition

Every word in Borges short stories have been carefully chosen, weighed and evaluated, and it shows: in just a few pages he manages to present varied, multi-layered themes that many other writers don't manage to fit in a novel.

His themes include, but are never limited to: the infinite, time, books and manuscripts, strange objects, the world seen from unexpected points of view, theology, and idealism.

While his main medium is the short story, he also wrote many non-fiction essays (some of the best of which, such as the exceptional "A New Refutation of Time", are included in "Labyrinths"), poetry, translations, and he excelled in the highly uncommon genre of the literary forgery.

Each page contains a sparkling gem (3/4 people found this helpful)

This collection of short stories has long been a favourite of mine. Borges is a master of the genre, packing more into a single line than some authors manage in a chapter. Time, death, love and religion are recurring themes, each handled with skill and awe-inspiring perspicacity.

Personally I think the first story is a bit of a shot to the head if you're not used to his style. Maybe try The Immortal for starters. After one or two, you'll be hooked and Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius won't make your brain hurt. Well, that's what it did to me ! !

This is definitely one of the books you should have read before you die.

infinity within a book. (28/32 people found this helpful)

Borges claimed 'if you can summarise something in ten minutes, then why should you do anything else?' and true to this he has made his name by writing amongst the most exquisitely formed short stories of all time. Each story deals with grand themes: In Tlon Uqbar a plan is revealed to pervert the real world, by making it believe in an alien civilisation, whose systems of believe focus upon philosophy rather than religion. Thus, bizarre instances occur, such as people believing, rather ironically, that time and movement do not exist. The Library of Babel is a story set inside a mysterious library, where people's sole purpose is the examination and exegesis of an effectively infinite collection of books filled with every possible permutation of words and non-words. Cults thrive around books containing only three letters and myths are spread among the people of books tellling their future... given the endless possibilities of the library's contents such a book surely exists for every person.
Every short story though, is as good as the next. Each has its own self-contained idea or outlook on the world, yet each is in some way or another a Labyrinth. This collection is a masterpiece. The essays are just as good as the stories, because they too, almost peturbingly, seem to cope with the idea of the infinite effortlessly, whilst leaving you exhilerated.

A fantastic, thought provoking read (37/40 people found this helpful)

'Labyrinths' is a tremendously successful attempt to merge metaphysics and literature. Combining philosophy and storytelling is rarely done well (maybe Camus and Sartre are the best examples), but Borges achieves it in these stories. It is metaphysics that creates the labyrinths of the title, labyrinths of the perception of 'truth'. Despite being short, each story contains layers of deception from which there is no escape. These begin with the 'historical' gravitas given to each story by Borges' claim to have discovered a manuscript, or to be retelling fact. We are then plunged into a metaphysical fantasy in which the idea of 'the truth' becomes meaningless (or at least relative). It is the success with which Borges' achieves this, rather than the style in which he does, that is the strength of this collection. I came to Borges through reading Umberto Eco, who is shamelessly influenced by the Argentinian (in 'The Name of the Rose' Borge-esque motifs such as the labyrinth - both physical and metaphysical, false trails leading to the truth, the discovery of a manuscript, etc., are prominent, as is the monk 'Jorge of Burgos'!). Any fan of Eco should try this book, as should anyone who likes their brains to be given a little workout every now and then.
I found the non-fiction at the end a little tedious, but there is not much of this. The rest of the book is a delight. It is not hard to read, but leaves you feeling a little more clever by the finish. Do yourself a favour: read this book.

A book to revisit (16/24 people found this helpful)

I asked for this book for my 10th birthday...a bit advanced I thought when I unwrapped it but I loved the old cover of a spiral staircase reaching into the sky. I struggled with the texts within and got very little out of it apart from the marvellous The Circular Ruins. This remains one of my favourite short stories by Borges but now at 28 I'm in a position to re-evaluate...and I do regularly. I love discovering the worlds of Tlon Uqbar and Orbis Tertius, finding Pierrre Menard again. This book grows with you- it develops as you get older and have more points of reference. It helps when you read other books like Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves. The spiral staircase is appropriate because it reminds us that we revisit the same things time and time again but always have different reference points.

Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (Penguin Modern Classics)

Jorge Luis Borges

Reader Reviews:

Pure Genius (4/5 people found this helpful)

Each page contains a sparkling gem (3/4 people found this helpful)

infinity within a book. (28/32 people found this helpful)

A fantastic, thought provoking read (37/40 people found this helpful)

A book to revisit (16/24 people found this helpful)

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