- Paperback: 228 pages
- Publisher: University of Texas Press; Reprint edition (1 Jun 1975)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0292760027
- ISBN-13: 978-0292760028
- Product Dimensions: 22.7 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,236,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #61 in Books > History > Europe > Spain > Spanish Inquisition
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
The Mirror of the Enigmas
6 Dec 2008
Format:Paperback
I love Borges' short stories, especially the early ones with their labyrinths and paradoxes; these alone would show him as one of the greatest and most original writers of the 20th century. But (in my humble opinion) the essays in this book are even more remarkable.
Borges was a man of books and ideas; his stories are also woven of books and ideas. He seemed to have read everything: at least everything no-one else had read. His mind ranges over fiction, poetry, history, philosophy and theology with apparent omniscience. These essays are written in the almost inhumanly meticulous style made famous by the stories; all are very short, but so packed with meaning that every sentence is quotable.
More astonishing ideas can be found here than in any other book I have ever read. A writer creates his own precursors: we would never have known that some writers are "Kafkaesque" if Kafka hadn't come along. Shakespeare began as someone; then he became everyone; and then he became no-one: and God went through the same trajectory. John Donne's "Biathanatos", on the surface a justification of suicide, actually argues that Jesus committed suicide: and hence that the entire Universe was created solely so that God could commit suicide.
These are random examples. Sometimes Borges seems to tease. Because he's read Everything: mystics, Kabbalists, Chinese historians, Fathers of the Church, Gnostics, long forgotten philosophers: sometimes you're not sure if he's not making it up. Was there an obscure Danish theologian who went from justifying Judas as a noble soul who played a necessary part in the Divine plan of salvation, to believing that Judas was himself God? Or is this Borges' erudite and disturbing joke at our expense?
These essays were crazily ahead of their time: writers and thinkers have been drawing on their riches ever since. But Borges can also take authors who were already old-fashioned, G.K. Chesterton, H.G. Wells, Bernard Shaw, and reveal in them mysteries and depths you would never have dreamt of. Supreme literary conjuror, Borges effortlessly produces the most extravagant marvels out of the plainest of hats. Intelligent, wise, startling, learned beyond belief: I don't have the words needed to do justice to this book. There is now a large "Collected Nonfictions", but it adds little. Most of the best is in this slim book.
Borges was a man of books and ideas; his stories are also woven of books and ideas. He seemed to have read everything: at least everything no-one else had read. His mind ranges over fiction, poetry, history, philosophy and theology with apparent omniscience. These essays are written in the almost inhumanly meticulous style made famous by the stories; all are very short, but so packed with meaning that every sentence is quotable.
More astonishing ideas can be found here than in any other book I have ever read. A writer creates his own precursors: we would never have known that some writers are "Kafkaesque" if Kafka hadn't come along. Shakespeare began as someone; then he became everyone; and then he became no-one: and God went through the same trajectory. John Donne's "Biathanatos", on the surface a justification of suicide, actually argues that Jesus committed suicide: and hence that the entire Universe was created solely so that God could commit suicide.
These are random examples. Sometimes Borges seems to tease. Because he's read Everything: mystics, Kabbalists, Chinese historians, Fathers of the Church, Gnostics, long forgotten philosophers: sometimes you're not sure if he's not making it up. Was there an obscure Danish theologian who went from justifying Judas as a noble soul who played a necessary part in the Divine plan of salvation, to believing that Judas was himself God? Or is this Borges' erudite and disturbing joke at our expense?
These essays were crazily ahead of their time: writers and thinkers have been drawing on their riches ever since. But Borges can also take authors who were already old-fashioned, G.K. Chesterton, H.G. Wells, Bernard Shaw, and reveal in them mysteries and depths you would never have dreamt of. Supreme literary conjuror, Borges effortlessly produces the most extravagant marvels out of the plainest of hats. Intelligent, wise, startling, learned beyond belief: I don't have the words needed to do justice to this book. There is now a large "Collected Nonfictions", but it adds little. Most of the best is in this slim book.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Borges!
16 July 2000
Format:Paperback
Borges is at his best in this stunning collection of essays. " A meeting in a dream" is a masterpiece, a beautiful essay on love by one known more for being metaphysical than romantic. The rest of the essays sparkle as well. WOnderful!
A Brillant and intellectually refreshing collection
4 Mar 2012
Format:Paperback
Borges is always great for providing an intellectual recharge, for getting you excited about reading and thinking about reading, especially in his essays. Reading these, it's hard to not be overwhelmed by how vast his erudition is. Classical literature, adventure novels, philosphy, obscure mystical tracts, half forgotten literary criticism from the 19th century, absolutely everything is grist for his mill. You could probably spend a lifetime just reading everything in the book's index. And yet at no point does he feel like he's showing off. His tone in these pieces, while still formal, paradoxically has this really intimate, humorous quality to it as well. And hey, it made me think Nathaniel Hawthorne was actually funny instead of just a grimace-inducing moralizer.(less)
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