Historia Universal de La Infamia
by Jorge Luis Borges
Historia Universal de La ...
Jorge Luis Borges |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 154)
Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
anybody interested in surrealism
this is a compilation of short stories. it is a very interesting book from a number of standpoints, not the least of which is its glorification of the bad guy. the stories are essentially about the lives of evildoers, hence the title. the thesis of the book, if you can say that a collection of shorts has a thesis, seems to be that the common thread that runs through human history is the presence of bad guy, and this is a book with the uncommon mission of telling his story. a very good read, ...more
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Read in July, 2007
Such a low rating because I simply don't get it. Excrutiatingly short biographies on various "infamous" people in history. Infamous, perhaps, but that's the only tie to bind them. According to the jacket, this book is significant because it marks the beginning of Borges' trademark style (probably a mistake reading this first.) I disagree that the stories are "top-notch entertainment."
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
readers who read to the limit
A great collection of character sketches of villains, impostors, and scoundrels. Borges announces in the preface that these are not psychological sketches, however. So, we do not learn about why the infamous are infamous as such. But the stories stretch the limits of the believable, of what is credible and incredible. The delight and amuse and disgust all at once.
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Read in February, 2008
Borges is possibly my favorite author of all time, and this collection of early writings was interesting to me mostly because I could see both his writing chops and his intricately knotted ideas in an intermediate stage of finish.
I was disappointed by the introduction, which seemed naive and added nothing to the collection, if not worse than that.
I was disappointed by the introduction, which seemed naive and added nothing to the collection, if not worse than that.
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