From the Bookshelf of On Paths Unknown…

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges,

Anthony Kerrigan (Translator)

Start date: September 2, 2015

Discussion: JORGE LUIS BORGES

Discussion leader: Cecily

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 9 topics — 357 comments total

JORGE LUIS BORGES

Jorge Luis Borges - convening thread
By Traveller · 65 posts · 62 views

last updated Nov 05, 2024 01:49AM

Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius - with spoilers
By Cecily · 110 posts · 65 views

last updated Jan 19, 2016 01:32AM

What Members Thought

Feb 08, 2015 PGR Nair rated it it was amazing

( Note: This is an article I wrote in 2009 to mark the 110th birth Anniversary of Borges. Therefore, some of the stories I cite here may not belong to this collection. I thought to post it here as this book is the most cited. If you plan to buy a book of Borges, buy this one or Labyrinth and other stories as both contain the same set of stories and translators. His best translators are Norman Thomas di Giovanni and Anthony Kerrigan . Stay away from the translator Andrew Hurley)

THE BINOCULARS OF ...more

33 likes · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2013 Linda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: boston-book-club, latin-american, 1001-books-bucket-list

I'm more a fan of "Artificios" than the actual "Ficciones" collection, though "El Jardin" remains one of the better ones from Ficciones. Reading this collection for my Boston book club made me realize that, having taught Borges short stories over the years and reading for my exams as a graduate student, I thought that I had read all of them.
But I hadn't; I encountered a few new ones here, namely "The End", which puts an end to the Martin Fierro story. So I've erased Borges from my "read" lists a I'm more a fan of "Artificios" than the actual "Ficciones" collection, though "El Jardin" remains one of the better ones from Ficciones. Reading this collection for my Boston book club made me realize that, having taught Borges short stories over the years and reading for my exams as a graduate student, I thought that I had read all of them.
But I hadn't; I encountered a few new ones here, namely "The End", which puts an end to the Martin Fierro story. So I've erased Borges from my "read" lists and will reread each anthology. Like Quiroga and Cortazar, he's been anthologized so often that one can find the same short story in several collections, thus making it seem as though you've read them all.
I tend to like "Artificios" more than "Ficciones" b/c the stories in "Ficciones" are less what I consider short stories, and more Borges positing his new ideas/concepts. Several really don't contain any plot or plot twists, just the possibility of other dimensons/worlds. Great stuff, especially when you consider that they're his first stories ever, written after a severe head injury. But I do remember, both in grad school and now, "skimming" some of these. Once you've grasped the idea of what he's proposing (the infinite nature of the universe, chaos, the only truth is fiction, etc.) then there's really no need to determine whether or not text X truly existed, or whether Borges made it up. Wonderful to do if you have the time and are so inclined. I remember being frustrated/feeling guilty with this in grad school, thinking that I had to look up each and every reference to these works, or that I was less erudite for not knowing. Also, there's a new one every two sentences, so it really broke up the "stories". Now, I just get the concept and plow through a lot of those references. That's why I prefer "Jardin de los senderos que se bifurcan" and the stories from "Artificios"; they're more in the line of actual stories, that do contain a plot but also posit some of those same ideas and concepts (the way, for example, "La muerte y la brujula" is similar to "Jardin" in its structure, a variation on the same theme, if you will). ...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Apr 12, 2018 Meem Arafat Manab rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

উম্বের্তো একো আর ডক্টর হু-এর ছাপ খুঁজে পাওয়া যায় বেশ কিছু গল্পে। লেখা এইভাবেই বোধহয় তার উত্তরসূরী তৈরী করে।

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2015 Phil J rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, classic

No one seems able to accurately describe the contents of this book without wandering into ephemera or generalities, but I will try.

This book contains 17 stories. They are very short- I was able to read most of them in 5-20 minutes. Some of the stories are in narrative form; some are descriptions of fictional books; some merely describe the development of an idea; most combine two of these aspects. There is usually a contrast between two points of view: author and reader, author and critic, speak No one seems able to accurately describe the contents of this book without wandering into ephemera or generalities, but I will try.

This book contains 17 stories. They are very short- I was able to read most of them in 5-20 minutes. Some of the stories are in narrative form; some are descriptions of fictional books; some merely describe the development of an idea; most combine two of these aspects. There is usually a contrast between two points of view: author and reader, author and critic, speaker and listener, older self and younger self, or two connected characters. The internal tension of the stories is generated occasionally by dramatic suspense, but more often by the reader's desire to follow Borges' (or his characters') logic to its conclusion.

All the stories are sufficiently concrete to be understood and visualized on a literal level. However, they are all obviously vehicles for larger ideas, and that is where I get lost. I know that I am weak at detecting symbolism, so I looked up various college lecture notes online. According to academia, these stories are largely about the attempts and failures of the human mind to grasp the nature of reality. This explanation is both accurate and dissatisfying.

The aspect which no description can capture is Borges' ability to create a unique mental state in the mind of the reader. The closest analogue would be the work of Escher, M. C.. I find myself staring at Borges' geometry and wondering why it was made. I follow the lines with my mind until they become tangled. I feel the self-conscious doubt that I may simply be mistaking an optical illusion for deeper meaning.

According to academia, the metafictional aspects of this book are meant to push the reader further out of the story so that you are ultimately reading a story about yourself as a reader. This is true of If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, but I had the opposite experience here. Each story consisted of piling so many inferences and propositions on top of each other that I completely lost myself inside the labyrinths of the fictional worlds. I believe that this is what Borges wanted.

The mind-altering aspects of this book caused me to question the mental health of its author a little bit. Are the repetitions of mirror images, labyrinths, and gnosticism signs of some neurotic compulsion? Or am I just missing the point? Was this all just a big chess game? If so, how did I lose? ...more

2 likes · Like · see review