Finished all of Borges' fiction (5 total in July)
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Date: July 16th, 2018 1:37 AM Author: Aphrodisiac Clear Travel Guidebook
Grabbed the big omnibus of all his fiction earlier this year after a friend recommended him. Besides fitting into the short-fiction kick I'll likely be pursuing for the next few months, he also marks my first serious foray into Latin American literature.
Overall, as far as the major individual collections go, I rate them Ficciones > The Book of Sand > The Aleph > Brodie's Report > A Universal History of Iniquity. They were all good, though Ficciones was clearly the best imo, and "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" was by far my favorite story. Besides that one, just about everything in Ficciones was superb. I will also single out "The Other Death," "Averroes' Search," "The Interloper," and "The Gospel According to Mark" as stories I found particularly memorable. Borges is probably most famous for his fantasy but I generally found those less compelling than his more realistic stories and his fake translations/book reviews. As far as pure enjoyment goes, I think a lot of the fantasy stories would have benefited from the comic undertone that existed in "Pierre Menard." Borges could clearly be extremely funny but only a few of his stories really went in that direction. Instead, some really fantastical stories like The Book of Sand stay rather serious or even go for a horror vibe. They're still good, but I think they could have been more enjoyable without erasing the themes Borges was pursuing.
Still, highly recommended to XOpos. Busy lawyers may appreciate that even Borges' longest story is only 14 pages long.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4027018&forum_id=2#36434900) |
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Date: July 16th, 2018 2:02 AM Author: soul-stirring garrison police squad
How are you choosing who to read? I am trying to get in the habit of reading quite a lot more often, but I need to have some kind of order or genre.
I haven't read all the classics, so I might want to start with those, but I also want to read some relatively recent stuff.
What do you recommend?
BTW, why did you decide to go for Spanish-speaking authors?
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4027018&forum_id=2#36434946) |
Date: July 16th, 2018 2:01 AM Author: idiotic native
for someone who reads a lot you sure dont write in a very compelling, interesting way.
very matter of fact, no flair at all. what gives?
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4027018&forum_id=2#36434942) |
Date: July 16th, 2018 9:39 AM Author: vivacious market
borges' concision and density of ideas is remarkable. Pierre Menard is up there for his POTUS story but I also love the Aleph - which is probably his "funniest" story - and Garden of the Forking Path.
I love how Borges takes a central theme and reconsiders it again and again in the context of different stories. Library of Babel, Aleph, Book of Sands, and even Garden of the Forking Path all touch on the same basic concept but in different ways, from different points of view. (Should add Funes the Memorious which is also funny in its way)
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4027018&forum_id=2#36435721) |
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