Borges in 90 Minutes

Great Writers in 90 Minutes

by Paul Strathern

Building on his enormously successful series of Philosophers in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern now applies his witty and incisive prose to brief biographical studies of the world's great writers. He brings their lives and ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion. Far from being a novelty, each book is a highly refined appraisal of the writer and his work, authoritative and clearly presented.

Applause for Paul Strathern's Philosophers in 90 Minutes

"Each of these little books is witty and dramatic and creates a sense of time, place, and character....I cannot think of a better way to introduce oneself and one's friends to Western civilization."―Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe

"Well-written, clear and informed, they have a breezy wit about them....I find them hard to stop reading."―Richard Bernstein, New York Times

"Witty, illuminating, and blessedly concise."―Jim Holt, Wall Street Journal

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, Philosophy, Literary Criticism, Literature, History

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2006

About the author

Paul Strathern (born 1940) is a English writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas. His novel A Season in Abyssinia won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1972.

Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics.

Reviews

[Peiman E iran · Rating 2 out of 5]

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، این کتاب به زندگی و آثارِ نویسندهٔ آرژانتینی <بورخس> پرداخته است
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‎عزیزانم، <خورخه لوییس بورخس> در سالِ 1899 در بوئنوس آیرس، پایتخت آرژانتین، به دنیا آمد.... زمان جنگ جهانی اول، به همراه خانواده اش به سوئیس سفر کرد و در همان جا به مدرسه رفت و توانست به زبانِ انگلیسی و فرانسوی و آلمانی، بخواند و بنویسد... در سالِ 1921 بورخس به آمریکای جنوبی بازگشت و در آرژانتین به نوشتن و شعر گفتن پرداخت ... در سنِ 24 سالگی اولین دفترِ شعرش را چاپ نمود.... بورخس به کتابخوانی علاقهٔ زیادی داشت و حتی در این مسیر بیناییِ خود را از دست داد.... او تا سنِ 60 سالگی مجرد بود و زنان و دختران به او علاقه ای نداشتند... در سنِ 68 سالگی بالاخره ازدواج کرد، امّا ازدواجش ناموفق بود و دوباره به نزدِ مادرش بازگشت و با وی زندگی کرد.... بورخس در سالِ 1985 آرژانتین را به مقصد شهرِ ژنو، ترک کرد... امّا اینبار تنها نبود، او عاشقِ منشیِ جوانِ خود <ماریا کوداما> شده بود که بیش از 40 سال با او اختلاف سنی داشت و از او بزرگتر بود... در سالِ 1986 او با ماریا ازدواج کرد و ازدواجش در شهرستانی دور افتاده در پاراگوئه به ثبت رسید، با آنکه هیچکدام در آنجا حضور نداشتند!!! ... بورخس دو ماه پس از ازدواج مشکوکش، تسلیمِ سرطانِ کبد شد و در 86 سالگی و در حالی که ماریا عروسِ 40 ساله اش در کنارِ وی بود، در ژنو از دنیا رفت
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‎امیدوارم این ریویو برایِ شما عزیزان، مفید بوده باشه
‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>

[حسین · Rating 4 out of 5]

اگر این قدر کوتاه نبود پنج ستاره می‌دادم

[فؤاد · Rating 3 out of 5]

فکر می کنم بهتره آدم خودش اول با بورخس مواجه بشه، و بعد بره سراغ این کتاب.
کتاب خیلی خوبیه، خیلی اطلاعات خوبی داره راجع به زندگی بورخس، و همین طور آثار بورخس رو تفسیر هم کرده، که خیلی از تفسیرهاش رو من دوست نداشتم، و خلاف برداشتی بود که از بورخس دارم.
اما نکته ش اینه که اومده و خلاصۀ خیلی از داستان های بورخس رو تعریف کرده، و شاید همین باعث بشه قصه ها لو برن، و غرابت و شگفتی مواجهه با بورخس از بین بره.
به خاطر همین فکر می کنم بهتره این بعد از خوندن از خود بورخس، خونده بشه.

[biname · Rating 4 out of 5]

توصیه اش میکنم
اگر بورخس نخوانده اید یا خوانده اید و درکش نکرده اید
مناسب است برای آغاز تعمق درباره اش

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Borges in 90 Minutes should be called Borges for 90 Minutes. Instead of giving you a sense of the writer, and an overview of his work, in 90 minutes the author just blathers on about him in the style of academic-sounding literary criticism. Maybe I should’ve read Borges for Idiots instead.

[Morteza Bahrami]

ترجمه اش واقعا پر دست انداز بود، برای آشنایی با بورخس به نظرم هیچ خوب نیست، ارجاع های ناآشنای فراوانی دارد.

[Crystal Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I want to read more Borges! The book did not answer one important question. I want to know if Borges wrote any original pieces in English. I think the answer is no, but would like to know for certain. Since he grew up speaking both English and Spanish, I would love to find an original piece written in English! I had no idea that he spent time in Geneva as a child as well and had such fond memories of it. Now it makes more sense that he's buried there. Apparently he had clearer memories of Geneva, since he lived there as a child while his eyesight was still good. The story of him running into a glass window pane on his way up the stairs to meet a woman sounded awful and so painful! I didn't realize that he spent so many of his years being nearly blind and then completely blind. I thought that was closer to the end of his life. It was interesting to learn that he struggled romantically and didn't marry until his 60s and then again in his 70s shortly before he died. Apparently quite a mama's boy too! Overall a good read and now I'm interested in picking up some new writings by this brilliant author!

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok ok ok but keep my man’s name out ya damn mouth sometimes fr. innacurate biographical bits for thee drama™️??? saying everything after the aleph wasn’t that good??? blasphemy.

[Sandys Nunes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ótima introdução a Borges e às suas principais obras.

[marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little intro on Borges that provided some life history, common themes in his literature, and an overview of his works. It was much of what I was looking for as I make my way through his Ficciones, which truly stand on their own but are even more intriguing and delectable with a little extra info on the author.

I listened to the audio, which is read by an older gentleman who sounds like a mid-19th century Oxford professor. Quite fun.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series and I have learned a lot from it. However, while I found Borges life interesting and can recall some details (hopeless romantic with endless girl problems, probably a virgin well into adulthood, lived with mom all his life, seldom had a paying job, ect.) it was hard to get from this book what Borges philosophy was.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "writers in 90 minutes" seem to be way better than "philosophers in 90 minutes" -- this did a great job of 1) telling the basic biography of Borges 2) some nice selections of his work and why you'd want to read him 3) general context of his writing. The main takeaway is yes, I absolutely want to read him, and particularly in Spanish, as a goal for next year.

[Zac Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming introduction to Borges as a figure header in the surrealist movement that gets a little bogged down in the last 20 minutes or so. The appendix of fellow argentine surrealists however has given me a wealth of future reading to look forward too.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew very little about Borges, so this was quite informative.

He had a much more painful and traumatic life than I realized.

I am actually more impressed than ever that he managed to create so much!

But it seems he was somehow able to use his pain as fuel for his creativity.

[Christopher Hellstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio version.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. A bit pretentious, but nice to have some background on Borges.

[Mauricio Coronel Guzmán · Rating 1 out of 5]

Satura con lugares comunes.

[Felipe Bedoya Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for those who want to be initiated in the life and work of Borges

[Rita Flaherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im not generally a fan of biographies, but I have read some of Borges short stories and was curious about this title. It was a good review of the authors life.

[counter-hegemonicon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cautionary tale about living one’s life to the fullest and flying the coop as soon as possible

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting life, but the stories have me intrigued and I want to read even his nonfiction now.

[Marcos Kopschitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se você vai ler Borges e não quer saber nada antecipadamente sobre enredos de seus contos, preferindo receber todo o impacto diretamente do texto, não leia este livro! Ele comenta algumas de suas principais obras e analisa alguns contos em mais detalhes, entregando a trama, ou seja, para usar o termo na moda, tem spoilers.

Mas se você já leu Borges, ou se começou a ler e está tão bem impressionado que se encontra até um pouco aturdido, nada melhor para situar a leitura!

Saber quem foi, o que pensou, como viveu e se relacionou com seu tempo é sempre importante ao ler qualquer autor. A personalidade, a biografia e as características da literatura de Borges são muito bem apresentadas aqui. E você sempre pode saltar alguns pequenos trechos relativos aos livros que pretende ler em breve.

É um livro de bolso, em formato pequeno (aproximadamente 12 x 18 cm) e bem editado, contendo os seguintes complementos:

– Introdução e posfácio do autor
– Principais obras de Borges em português
– Cronologia da vida e da época de Borges
– Leitura sugerida
– Créditos das citações
– Índice remissivo

Toda a série “em 90 minutos” de Paul Strathern é muito boa. Na verdade, são três:

– Cientistas em 90 minutos
– Filósofos em 90 minutos
– Escritores em 90 minutos

As duas primeiras têm muitos títulos traduzidos em português, mas a dos escritores, aparentemente, só teve quatro, este e mais Virginia Woolf, Kafka e García Márquez.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine my delight when I discovered the GSU library has an entire bookcase dedicated to Borges (also: 7 for Voltaire, 4 for Joyce, etc.) This was the shortest, so I pulled it out first. I'm going to have to take advantage of the bookcase while I'm still a student here.

The book itself offered a short biography and brief overview of some of his stories. I should go for one of the bigger biographies one of these days.

[Billy Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. Strathern delivers a pithy summary of the important dates and details, along with anecdotes and historical context, a timeline, and more. Great series, especially taken together as a long book of great thought and biography.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version of [i] Borges in 90 Minutes [/i]. Borges is one of my favorites and the lecture was a nice mixture of discussions of literature and biography.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this basic introduction was much too critical of Borges's work.

[Gilmara Mendes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good to know a bit about Borges' life, his influences and his reasons.
Loved it.

[Sarah]

It took me seventy minutes to read.

[S.]

Apparently, Borges stuffed his first self-published poetry book into the coat pockets of the staff members at a literary magazine. It worked.

*Audio