|
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Jorge Borges
|
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (Penguin Modern Classics) by Jorge Borges |
by Jorge Borges
|
The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory: AND Shakespeare's Memory (Penguin Modern Classics) by Jorge Borges |
by Jorge Luis Borges
|
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
This third Penguin volume marking the centenary of the birth of Jorge Luis Borges follows the publication of the Collected Fictions and Selected Poems: editor Eliot Weinberger's choice of Borges' non-fiction writings in The Total Library gives readers the necessary corollary to the work for which the Argentine author became most famous--and for which he became lauded as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Predominantly celebrated for the stories published variously in Fictions and Labyrinths, Borges was nevertheless equally at ease writing about an extraordinary variety of subjects--this huge volume presents a mere 161 pieces out of over 1,200 extant non-fiction texts--ranging from mathematics to 'A History of the Tango', from meditations on blindness (he himself lost his sight in 1955) to reviews of films such as King Kong, from essays on Dante to responses to the rise of Nazism. What surprises, for even the Borges aficionado, is the breadth and idiosyncrasy of his topics and the singular intelligence that animates his work, and the fact that, despite his staggering erudition, Borges did not inhabit a world of arcane knowledge but a world in which popular culture and deeply felt responses to the stupidities of fascism and the propaganda of dictators found equal place. The world of the book here becomes the book of the world, and if Borges' texts are invariably short, they contain multitudes.
It would be easy to make a case for the inseparability of Borges' literary output, for interleaving one's reading of the three collections. Coming to these essays one can see themes that appear elsewhere reworked as fiction or poetry: the nature of time, of eternity and infinity find their places in many of his best-known stories, and are illuminated by the discussions and speculations contained herein. What is also apparent, however, is how long-lasting many of his preoccupations were: themes which appear in his earliest essays recur throughout a lifetime of thinking and writing, lending this book, despite its admitted omissions, a deeply intimate sense of a mind working. Among his earliest essays we read: "there is no whole self. He who defines personal identity as the private possession of some depository of memories is mistaken". And later: "My postulate is that all literature, in the end, is autobiographical. Everything is poetic that confesses, that gives us a glimpse of a destiny". If these help mark a few of the philosophical kernels of Borges' work, then one final quotation illuminates his generosity: "I don't know if I am a good writer, but I think I am an excellent reader, or in any case a sensitive and grateful one". He more than deserves the same from those who come to his own extraordinary work. --Burhan Tufail
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Though best known in the English speaking world for his short fictions and poems, Borges is revered in Latin America equally as an immensely prolific and beguiling writer of non-fiction prose. In THE TOTAL LIBRARY, more than 150 of Borges' most brilliant pieces are brought together for the first time in one volume - all in superb new translations. More than a hundred of the pieces have never previously been published in English. THE TOTAL LIBRARY presents Borges at once as a deceptively self-effacing guide to the universe and as the inventor of a universe that is an indispensible guide to Borges
See all Product Description
Intention. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
52% buy the item featured on this page: The Total Library: Non-fiction, 1922-1986 (Penguin Modern Classics) £9.09 |
 |
18% buy Fictions £5.99 |
 |
18% buy Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (Penguin Modern Classics) £6.99 |
 |
6% buy The Aleph and Other Stories (Penguin Classics) £9.16 |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
 |
Customer Discussions
Beta (What's this?)|
This product's forum
(0 discussions)
Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Active discussions in related forums
|
Related forums
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listmania!
|
|
![[a spring's treefeller's list]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S71FNH8ML._AA60_.jpg)
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
Fun for Everyone |
Treat Someone
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). |
|||||||||
Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk 
| |||||
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
You have no recently viewed items or searches.
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session. |
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
| ||||
Amazon Home | |
| International Sites: United States | Germany | France | Japan | Canada | China | |
| Business Programs: Sell on Amazon | Fulfilment by Amazon | Join Associates | Join Advantage | |
| Customer Service | Help | View Basket | Your Account | |
| About Amazon.co.uk | Careers at Amazon | |
| Conditions of Use & Sale | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates |