Tim's review
Ficciones (English Translation)
by Jorge Luis Borges
Tim's review
Ficciones (English Translation) by Jorge Luis Borges
Tim's review
rating:
recommended for: anyone seeking to reaffirm that it's okay to let go of past values.
Another fantastic book , specifically the short story Pierre Menard, Author of Quixote. In it, Borges sets up the story of the fictitious author, Pierre Menard, giving a list of his works and achievments. Everything, from his structuralist, Saussarian view of language, to his pragmatic view of history, convince the open minded reader that those who propose we somehow rewind the clock and return to "tradition" are wasting their time; while some values of the past, to be sure, should be kept, they should also be viewed in light of the scientific, cultural, and social changes which have occurred in the post-modern world, changes which cannot be ignored. For us to forget all the changes which have occurred since the writing of Don Quixote and return to a medieval worldview, we would indeed have to be "immortal" to undertake such a task.
