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Jorge Luis Borges: A Study of the Short Fiction
Examines both periods of the Argentine writer's works--his early baroque style with elaborate plot construction, and his later more traditional narratives
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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March 9, 2015
Great overview of JLB's short stories. Keep in mind that this is only about his short stories and has nothing about his poetry and nonfiction essays.
It's divided into three parts:
One, an overview on the plot, character, style, etc., of Borges major and minor short stories. The author shows similarities between a Borgesian story and goes through his works in chronological order showing the evolution of JLB's writing.
The second part is an interview with Borges. I've seen better interviews and I've seen worse. I didn't read anything that wasn't asked of JLB before. Perhaps a few interviews would have been better...with JLB's interviews, you get a sense of his humor and influence. He never talks in an in-depth way about his own works, so look to the interviews for a sample of his dark humor...many people think he was a a man of drama and miss a whole side of him.
The third part is a critical analysis of JLB's later books, Brodie & Book of Sand. It's worth reading for the Wheelock analysis. If this third part is more interesting to you than the other sections, I would suggest Harold Bloom's edited book on Borges. It's filled with some of the most important works on Borges from the last sixty odd years or so.
It's divided into three parts:
One, an overview on the plot, character, style, etc., of Borges major and minor short stories. The author shows similarities between a Borgesian story and goes through his works in chronological order showing the evolution of JLB's writing.
The second part is an interview with Borges. I've seen better interviews and I've seen worse. I didn't read anything that wasn't asked of JLB before. Perhaps a few interviews would have been better...with JLB's interviews, you get a sense of his humor and influence. He never talks in an in-depth way about his own works, so look to the interviews for a sample of his dark humor...many people think he was a a man of drama and miss a whole side of him.
The third part is a critical analysis of JLB's later books, Brodie & Book of Sand. It's worth reading for the Wheelock analysis. If this third part is more interesting to you than the other sections, I would suggest Harold Bloom's edited book on Borges. It's filled with some of the most important works on Borges from the last sixty odd years or so.
Displaying 1 of 1 review