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/lit/ - Literature

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18109378 No.18109378 [Reply] [Original]

I am in complete awe of this man's works. Before reading him I would have never thought that such dense and profound ideas could be contained in a few pages of fiction. Instantly one of my favourites.

Is this man in a league of his own or are there authors you could recommend that are comparable?

>> No.18109566

>>18109378
>Are there authors you could recommend that are comparable?
Not exactly similar but you might enjoy reading the rings of saturn by sebald

>> No.18109579

>>18109378
And as far as short stories go I think Kraznohorkai is also really good, give seiobo there below a shot. Although its really different

>> No.18109585

Any other authors that bridge modernism and postmodernism?
All i know for sure would be beckett, gaddis and borges

>> No.18109604

Calvino and Eco

>> No.18109613

>>18109378
If you like the philosophy in Borges, then Ligotti.

>> No.18109671

>>18109604
Calvino is like a discount Borges. Not even remotely in the same league.

>>18109566
Seconding Sebald. The Rings of Saturn and Austerlitz are two more books that will completely change how you view literature. His early death was a tragedy because he still had like 5 or 6 more great books in him.

>> No.18109826

>>18109378
Borges is his own thing. Sometimes, Akutagawa gets close to him.

>> No.18109911

>>18109378
how do I become as smart as Borges

>> No.18109995

>>18109911
apparently borges had read everything so there's a place to start

>> No.18110035

>>18109911
Well Borges was blind, so he was basically trapped in his own brain all day and could do nothing but think.
Find a way to cripple yourself (metaphorically), or cut off distractions and it will force you to use your mind more.

>> No.18110060

Where should I start with Borges?

>> No.18110071

>>18110060
Ficciones

>> No.18110105

>>18110060
DONT buy labyrinths. For everything fiction Borges wrote you'd want Ficciones, The Aleph, and Books of Sand.
Labyrinths combines stories from Ficciones and The Aleph but leaves some out, so it just makes sense to get the separately.
That being said Ficciones or The Aleph are good places to start. Ficciones is imo his best work. It contains some of his most imaginative and fully realised concepts, whereas The Aleph is a bit more character based.
I haven't finished the Book of Sand yet, but the stories from it i've read aren't really as fleshed out as the ones in Ficciones.

>> No.18110108

>>18110105
at that point why not just buy the collected fictions with all the stories

>> No.18110131

>>18110060
Just get the Collected Fictions. It's literally his entire works in one volume for about 15 bucks.
Don't get Jewed by publishers who split his works into like 5 150-page volumes.

>> No.18110132

>>18110108
because you probably wouldn't want to spend a bunch of money on collected ficciones if you weren't sure you'd enjoy his works. Buying Ficciones, The Aleph and TBOS separately costs the same as just buying collected fictions so if you do enjoy whatever you start with you wont lose money in the long run.
You wouldn't start with Labyrinths becuase if you enjoyed it and wanted more you'd end up buying Ficciones and The Aleph making the money you spent of Labyrinths wasted

>> No.18110202
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18110202

>>18109378
Ernst Jünger
~
Related to the thread, my grandfather met him, and talked to him in his property. Borges, already blind, recited from memory the beggining verses of The Lusíadas.
I don't know any other stories or if they corresponded, unfortunately.
My grandfather is the tallest one, btw.

>> No.18110227

>>18110202
that's really cool anon. I love when people here share their history like this. Your grandfather was a lucky man

>> No.18110275

>>18109671
>Calvino is like a discount Borges.

Don't think so, actually he's a storywriter with more to offer, but one of his facets is sub-Borges. Much as I love JLB, you could really boil his whole career down and have The Immortal. I mean, the philosophical idea taken to an absurd, the meta-fictional twist - aside from, what Gauchos it's really the whole picture.

On the other hand Calvino's best stories are meaningfully diverse. Of course, because he wrote so fucking many, there's also more bad ones. But "Jaguar Sun", the Marcovaldo stuff, "Going to Headquarters", are they really by the author of Invisible Cities?

>> No.18110296

>>18109585
Cervantes

>> No.18110334

>>18110227
Thank you anon. When I visit my parents I'll ask if they have more stories.

>> No.18110642

>>18110202
wow that's awesome! I have Jünger on my reading list so I might bump it up, thanks!

>> No.18110765

>>18110296
Based answer

>> No.18110863

>>18110642
To find books that are rarer, go on here:
https://www.lulu.com/search/?adult_audience_rating=00&contributor=Ernst+J%C3%BCnger&page=1&pageSize=10
As an "introduction" you could watch this podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAuEef_Cc-A
After reading a considerable amount of Jünger you should watch this episode of the same podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCkWIdwSvAg
And I mean a lot, you'll get filtered by it.

>> No.18110867

>>18110035
He wasn't blind all his life....

>> No.18110882

>>18110060
A good start is "Brodie's report" (El informe de Brodie). Is one of his last books, and a good start cause is not so complex.

>> No.18110927

>>18109579

I'm reading that one right now, and he feels similar in some ways. His style is engrossing and hard to compare to anyone else, it's a stream of words where every page feels like a revelation.

>> No.18110960

>>18110060
A Universal History of Infamy is fun and easy.

>> No.18110994

>>18109378
fast track from last thread;
>milorad pavic
>danilo kis
>italo calvino
>marcel schwob
>georges perec
>wg sebald
>julio cortazar
>alfred jarry
>rene daumal
>ernst junger
>bruno schulz
>franz kafka
>juan rulfo
>yukio mishima (noh plays)
>umberto eco
misc reads
>snorre sturluson (sagas, eddas, etc)
>the arabian nights
>the conference of the birds
>sephir yetzirah/early kabbalistic texts
>mazes and labyrinths by wh matthews
>the artwork of mc escher and piranesi

>> No.18111083

>>18110994
some obvious ones I forgot to mention that might be of interest;
>gk chesterton (the man who was thursday)
liked by borges, wrote many metaphysical mystery novels and paradoxical lay theology
>dante's divine comedy
>gargantua and pantegruel
>don quixote
>tristam shandy
>the works of poe
as for the two pataphysicians mentioned (rene daumal and alfred jarry) they're fascinating manipulators of epistemology, although not necessarily as steeped in the western canon

>> No.18111128

>>18109604
Eco is great, Name of the Rose was so much fun, Foucault's Pendulum went over my head, I have Prague Cemetery at my parents home, hopefully next time I see them I can grab it

>> No.18111203

>>18110060
Get the collected fiction, jump over all the stories from the Universal History of Infamy (or something like that in English, idk), directly to Ficciones (his second short stories book). After you read it, Aleph and Book of Sand you can go back to Universal History (it's not as good, so you may give up during it, which would be a tragedy).

If your edition doesn't separate them by books, the first short story from Ficciones is Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tetius.

I would suggest buying his collected essays and reading them alongside the fiction after you finished Ficciones and Aleph (basically the two obligatory books by Borges). They are extremely interesting and autistic.

>> No.18112535
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18112535

It's not his most famous story, or probably even his best, but my favorite has always been "The Other." Maybe it's because it was the first Borges story I ever read, so it holds sentimental value for me. But I also feel like it's a good introduction to Borges, and it contains many of his main themes and concerns in a very elemental way.

>> No.18113329

>>18109378
Ficciones and El Aleph got me back into reading. Actually some of my favourite books of all time now. I don't want to overhype the man and turn people off by association (I'm a tard) but still.

Got two tomes of his complete works for really cheap as well, so he got me into thrift book hunting as well I guess.
>>18109604
I really loved The Name of the Rose, but I'm not acquainted with Eco's other works

>> No.18113342

>>18110060
I wanna ask this same question but want to start with something short. Sé espanich btw xfa, don't wanna go straight into a long read.

>> No.18113353

>>18110060
One small thing besides all the other anons's advice: a few of the tales reference heavily other argie works. Mainly Martin Fierro. So if you get somewhere and really don't know what the hell everyone is talking about, it's probably that.
>>18113342
Ficciones is a short book of short stories. Very easy entry point, and a masterpiece by itself.

>> No.18113639

>>18109378
Bioy- The Invention of Morel is good and from the same time/place

>> No.18113689

>>18110202
Holy shit

>> No.18113721

>>18110275
Borges' stories are wildly different and cover different themes. I am thinking you flipped through ficciones and only read The Immortal.

>> No.18113730

>>18110060
start with the best translations
https://libgen.is/fiction/E7337CF4C8C07A693BC751E62D21422C
>A compilation of the long out-of-print Giovanni translations of many of the short stories of J. L. Borges. These English translations were collaborative efforts between Borges and Giovanni and represent the author's preferred English text. They have been supplanted by the rather mundane Hurley translations due to Borges's widow, who currently manages his estate. Currently the estate allows no new printings of the Giovanni translations - hence this volume. Yes, it is unauthorized; yes, it is likely illegal. This edition takes its authorization from the author's stated preference while he was alive, and its view on legality that the greed of an old woman should not steal from the public-sphere the beautiful words of Jorge Luis Borges

>> No.18113736

>>18110060
This guy
>>18113730
gets it. Don't let that Japanese abomination rob you. Giovanni's translations are genuinely good.

>> No.18113794

Best midwit writer

>> No.18113798

>>18113794
>look mom, I did it again!

>> No.18113843

>>18110994
Add Juan José Arreola. Borges liked his work.

>> No.18114415

>>18113794
>m-midwit
says the midwit

>> No.18115623

>>18113730
danke, anon

>> No.18117024

>>18113639
>The Invention of Morel
No the best Bioy, in my opinion, though. Diary of the War of the Pig is superior.

Then there are the books he did in collaboration with Borges. Some of those things are so autistic they are almost unreadable (Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi is intentionally implausible and insane: to Isidro Parodi unreliable and incomplete information is intentionally given such that he could not be able to solve the mysteries without further investigations but nevertheless he does every time).

>> No.18117496

The Book of Imaginary Beings is underrated.