- Paperback: 576 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (2 Dec 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141182105
- ISBN-13: 978-0141182100
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 902,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Although Jorge Luis Borges published his first book in 1923--doling out his own money for a limited edition of Fervor de Buenos Aires--he remained in Argentinian obscurity for almost three decades. In 1951, however, Ficciones appeared in French, followed soon after by an English translation. This collection, which included the cream of the author's short fictions, made it clear that Borges was a world-class (if highly unclassifiable) artist--a brilliant, lyrical miniaturist, who could pose the great questions of existence on the head of pin. And by 1961, when he shared the French Prix Formentor with Samuel Beckett, he seemed suddenly to tower over a half-dozen literary cultures, the very exemplar of modernism with a human face.
By the time of his death in 1986, Borges had been granted old master status by almost everybody (except, alas, the gentlemen of the Swedish Academy). Yet his work remained dispersed among a number of different collections, some of them increasingly hard to find. Andrew Hurley has done readers a great service, then, by collecting all the stories in a single, meticulously translated volume. It's a pleasure to be reminded that Borges' style--poetic, dreamlike and compounded of innumerable small surprises--was already in place by 1935, when he published A Universal History of Iniquity: "The earth we inhabit is an error, an incompetent parody. Mirrors and paternity are abominable because they multiply and affirm it". (Incidentally, the thrifty author later recycled the second of these aphorisms in his classic bit of bookish metaphysics, "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Teris".) The glories of his middle period, of course, have hardly aged a day. "The Garden of the Forking Paths" remains the best deconstruction of the detective story ever written, even in the post-Auster era, and "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" puts the so-called death of the author in pointed, hilarious perspective.
But Hurley's omnibus also brings home exactly how consistent Borges remained in his concerns. As late as 1975, in "Avelino Arredondo" he was still asking (and occasionally even answering) the same riddles about time and its human repository, memory: "For the man in prison, or the blind man, time flows downstream as though down a slight decline. As he reached the midpoint of his reclusion, Arredondo more than once achieved that virtually timeless time. In the first patio there was a wellhead, and at the bottom, a cistern where a toad lived; it never occurred to Arredondo that it was the toad's time, bordering on eternity, that he sought". Throughout, Hurley's translation is crisp and assured (although this reader will always have a soft spot for "Funes, the Memorious" rather than "Funes, His Memory"). And thanks to his efforts, Borgesians will find no better--and no more pleasurable--rebuttal of the author's description of himself as "a shy sort of man who could not bring himself to write short stories". --James Marcus
Product Description
This is a collection of Borges's fiction, translated and gathered into a single volume. From his 1935 debut with "The Universal History of Iniquity", through the influential collections "Ficciones" and "The Aleph", to his final work from the 1980s, "Shakespeare Memory".
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First Sentence
I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Perhaps the greatest Spanish language writer of the century, says the fly-leaf. And it is not an exaggeration. But why did anyone let Andrew Hurley loose on this collection? A complete fictions in English was long overdue, but Hurley's translation lets Borges down. His prose style is leaden, and his translations often eccentric or just plain wrong. Borges was influenced by writers such as Burton, Chesterton and Henry James, and transposed their style into Spanish. Hurley, however, has translated Borges into twentieth century American English, which is clearly contrary to both the style and intent of the orignial. This book is well worth buying for the sake of having all the stories in one place and in English, but Norman Thomas di Giovanni's translations of Dr Brodie's Report and the Book of Sands are far superior. If only di G had tackled the Aleph or Ficciones, there would be little need for this amateur-ish effort at all...
35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As Andrew Hurley's translations of Borges are becoming ubiquitious some criticism of their style is called for. I see I have been (ably) beaten to it, so this can serve as a footnote to the earlier reader review. I can't compare the translations with the original Spanish, so can only observe that for the English reader of English they are spoiled by jarring Americanisms. Perhaps one might argue that American English is appropriate for translating a New World writer, but it is the product of a society very different to Borges's own, and its democratic, colloquial tone often works against his urbanity, fastidiousness, ironic pedantry and self-mocking snobbishness. Like the previous reviewer I have only docked one crown, because Borges is indispensable, whatever the shortcomings of his translators.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For the younger generation who are discovering Borges for the first time I wanted to explain a tragic state of affairs that is so typical of our time. Translation is a great art and particularly so when that which is being translated is considered by critics around the world to be Great Art. As such, great writers often work with a translator to ensure that the finished product is worthy of the original. In the case of Borges he chose to work with Norman Thomas di Giovanni for a period of ten years or more during which time they translated a considerable body of work together. These translations are some of the most sublime in the English language. With the greatest respect to Andrew Hurley for his enthusiasm, the Borges/Giovanni translations are superior to Hurley's own and without denigrating Hurley's capacities as a translator it is understandable in as far as the author of the original stories not only gave his approval to di Giovanni's translations but was in fact the co-translator. It is a great tragedy that since the death of Borges these remarkable translations have become redundant due to personal factors taking precedence over respecting the wishes of the author. A similar disrespect was shown to Nabokov when his son Dmitri published work which he had promised his father he would destroy as was his father's wish. The result was an embarassment and dishonour to the artist.
Norman Thomas di Giovanni's long, painstaking work with Borges to produce translations of extremely high quality have been overturned by a similarly disrespectful attitude towards the artist's wishes. It is wonderful that Andrew Hurley has such an appreciation and enthusiam for the writings of Borges but his translations are really not in the same league as the Giovanni/Borges efforts.
The only reason I write this review is because I believe that if we truly value the work of a great artist such as Borges we should follow his instructions in doing with his work exactly what he requested.
Norman Thomas di Giovanni's long, painstaking work with Borges to produce translations of extremely high quality have been overturned by a similarly disrespectful attitude towards the artist's wishes. It is wonderful that Andrew Hurley has such an appreciation and enthusiam for the writings of Borges but his translations are really not in the same league as the Giovanni/Borges efforts.
The only reason I write this review is because I believe that if we truly value the work of a great artist such as Borges we should follow his instructions in doing with his work exactly what he requested.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Borges' Fictions translated by Andrew Hurley
This is a wonderful collection of beautiful, though at times challenging stories. The most accessible stories, such as The Circular Ruins or The Garden of Forking Paths, are not... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Burncastle
Metaphysical Fiction
I first read 'Fictions' at University, within a module which involved studying works by Bataille, Sartre and Eco. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Cornish
Fiction Concentrate
Borges is the one that every short story writer aims to be like - Ballard, Dick, Di Phillipo - and for good reason. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2010 by Mr. R. J. Wright
Redefines the boundaries of fiction
If I have to summarise very briefly what I love about this book, it's that it completely redefines what short stories can be. Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2009 by Andrew Blackman
Fictions
Borges is a true original. This collection brings together some of his most famous work. Combining tales of the Argentine pampas with metaphysical conceits, historical theories and... Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2009 by Blue Yates
Genius
Borges is one of the few authors with the ability to let you know for sure that you are an idiot. You can read most of his stories in the time it takes to make a cup of tea, yet it... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by D. Maskelyne
The labyrinth that consists of a single straight line
Jorge Luis Borges was one of those rare writers who can take even a bizarre, utterly unbelievable idea, and spin it into an exquisite little gem of prose. Read more
Published on 3 May 2008 by E. A Solinas
i cant believe it has taken me 46 years to discover borges.
i recently read a book called 'the tango singer' about an american who moves to buenos aires to do research about borges for his phd. i really enjoyed that book.. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2008 by lushchica
This is wonderful
I really read this book and appreciated it first when I was 14 and I loved it. I sat reading it on the grass in front of the oxfor natural history museum and I have been re reading... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2003 by Mr. S. N. Barton
Excellent omnibus of all the old favourites
The Penguin Collected Fictions is well produced with simulated 'cut-pages' and dust jacket and is ideal for dipping into at any spare minute. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 1999 by mcmullmda@netlineuk.net
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