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

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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

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।

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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

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