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/lit/ - Literature

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18174538 No.18174538 [Reply] [Original]

Has anyone here read anything from Jorge Luis Borges? My favourite text from him is The Aleph

>> No.18174546
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18174546

>>18174538
For me it’s Del rigor en la ciencia

>> No.18174558

>>18174538
I fucking love him. Both Dreamtigers and El Aleph are better collections than Ficciones

>> No.18174571

>>18174538
I think a lot of people here have. I actually haven't read The Aleph, but I've read everything collected in Fictions and Labyrinths, maybe I need to pick it up. Which stories from The Alpeh have you been thinking about the most?

>> No.18174579

>>18174538
my favorite story is probably funes, his memory

>> No.18174591

hispanohablantes of /lit/, is Borges easy to read in Spanish?

>> No.18174603

>>18174571
The main one, The Aleph is the one that has me left thinking about it

>> No.18174607

>>18174591

No, keep a dictionary with you at all times.

>> No.18174609

>>18174571
Not him but the first 7 stories are the weakest barring The Immortal and The Theologians. All of them after that are bangers, my favourites are 'Man on the threshold', 'The other Death', 'El Aleph' and 'Ibn-hakkan al-bokhari, murdered in his labyrinth'.

>> No.18174611

>>18174591
It's a difficcult challenge, you need to pay a lot of attention, at least that was my case

>> No.18174638

>>18174591
Not terribly difficult, no. It's more his highly-specific vocab in some stories. I'm thinking of like the trogloditas in El inmortal (took me a minute to figure out what he was describing) or some of the language in El congreso.

You should get by fine, he's a fairly clear writer.

>> No.18174643

>>18174538
THE CIRCULAR RUINS

>> No.18174666

>>18174609
>>18174603
I'll add it to the stack then

>> No.18175173

>>18174538
Incredible. His ability to come up with a great concept then exploring all of its implications, and then taking it to it's logic conclusion, all within less than 10 pages is astounding.
Favourite stories include: Tlon Uqbar..., Pierre Menard, The Circular Ruins (probably the one I enjoy most), Library of Babel, Funes the Memorious, The South (peak comfy), The Immortal, The Zahir, The Aleph.
Still need to read The Book of Sand but I'm sure it'll be great.
Absolutely love him

>> No.18175226

test

>> No.18175453
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18175453

>>18174538
Read "In praise of Darkness", you're in for a treat.

>> No.18175459

>>18174538
Dislike him. Writer of corncobby chronicles. To consider them masterpieces is an absurd delusion. A nonentity, means absolutely nothing to me.

>> No.18175478

>>18175459
based Nabby impersonator.
But seriously, Nabokov loved Borges:
"A favorite. How freely one breathes in his marvelous labyrinths! Lucidity of thought, purity of poetry. A man of infinite talent."

>> No.18175529

>>18175453
What was the meaning of those stories?

>> No.18175549

Pierre Menard filtered me.

>> No.18175598

>>18175549
Didn't get it or didn't enjoy it?

>> No.18175618

>>18175598
I couldn't understand what it was about. Same thing happened with The Nose, by Akutagawa.

>> No.18175643

>…In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that that vast Map was Useless, and not without some Pitilessness was it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in all the Land there is no other Relic of the Disciplines of Geography.

The ability of this man to weave a whole world with its own background in a single paragraph astounds me.

>> No.18175644

>>18174607
>>18174611
>>18174638
thank you for your answers, is the Aleph easy enough? I've read Ficciones in my mother tongue and it was pretty difficult.

>> No.18175674

>>18175618
It's about a guy who sets out to write "Don Quixote" exactly, word for word, as Cervantes originally did. This doesn't mean he want's to copy it out, he instead wants be get into a mindset where he would independently write the story of Don Quixote as if it were his own book. He originally starts by trying to put himself in Cervantes' shoes but then stops that because it defeats the purpose, he doesn't want to be someone impersonating Cervantes, he wants to be himself but also somehow manage to write Don Quixote independently.
He somehow achieves this and the rest of the story is comparing the two texts (which are, of course, exactly the same. Borges has a sense of humor) and discussing how the fact that the two books were written in different times with different influences changes the interpretation of the texts. It's basically discussing how context matters

>> No.18175681

>>18175644
The Aleph is easier compared to most works in Ficciones. The style is different.

>> No.18175695

>>18174538
I love the lottery of Babylon and its optimism of the human spirit. Love all his "historical" stories, but some of his other stories have a certain stupid Gotcha "M Night Shamalam" twist. It's interesting to me for how hugely influential Borges is no competent impostors exist other than Invisible Cities.

Now reading Lost Books of the Odyssey, it's mediocre but entertaining and pure Borges reproduction.

>> No.18175705

Is his poetry worth checking out? I've only read his short stories.

>> No.18175714

>>18175695
I like the shamalam type twists in some of his stories, but I would much prefer if he was more subtle about it rather than just spelling it out in the last line

>> No.18175759
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18175759

>>18175529
To filter you I guess. Try again in 10 years.

>> No.18175782
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18175782

>>18175705
In Praise of Darkness.

>> No.18175783

fun fact, Borges disdained novels and read only a handful his whole life

>> No.18175798

>>18174538
Cioran and Borges had a correspondence after Borges wrote about Mainländer. So I do plan on checking out Borges

>> No.18175801

>>18175759
Thank you for replying viscous faggot. I was just asking for your interpretation.

>> No.18175807

>>18175798
>Cioran and Borges had a correspondence after Borges wrote about Mainländer.
AAAAAHHHHHH IM GONNA COOOOOOOOM

Can you give me sauce?

>> No.18175814

>>18175807
Mainländer wikipedia page, the last part of the last section

>> No.18175820

>>18175814
>Mainländer
There is no source bro.

>> No.18175824

>>18174538
Yeah, I've only done the "Ficciones" collection and the one about imaginary animals, but like him quite a bit - The Secret Miracle still stays with me.

>> No.18175839

>>18174538
My favorite is The Circular Ruins, surreal as fuck

>> No.18175846

>>18175839
I find that story to be so comfy. I think I've read it over 15 times just cos reading it before going to sleep feels so nice

>> No.18175855

>>18175807
haven't read this yet but here you go, cioran and borges
https://socialecologies.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/e-m-cioran-on-borges/

>> No.18175856

>>18174591
his prose is very clean but really dense sometimes

>> No.18175936

>>18175846
Do you dream about creating a man?

>> No.18176169
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18176169

>>18175798
By the way, Lem wrote an essay about Borges, or at least Borges appeared in it. Seems he got some works of Borges smuggled over the Iron Curtain.

>> No.18176184
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18176184

why are attractive women so interested in Borges, Mainländer, and Cioran?

>> No.18176246

>infinite librarians simultaneously exhale producing hurricane force winds throughout the entire library
This guy is supposed to be a good writer?

>> No.18176322

>>18176246
>le epic 4chan contrarian

>> No.18176333

>>18174591
It's very easy. His writing is very clear and concise.
>>18174607
retard

>> No.18176350

>>18175783
> Let others pride themselves about how many pages they have written; I'd rather boast about the ones I've read.
> Jorge Luis Borges

> I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.
>Jorge Luis Borges

then what did he read?

>> No.18176356

>>18175783
bullshit

>> No.18176358

>>18176350
None of your business.

>> No.18176464
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18176464

>>18175801
My interpretation is that he wanted to achieve oneness with the universe/nirvana/god whatever. To Borges it would make no difference, it's the Thing-In-Itself. The Aleph is a give-away, but the other stories are better in describing what it is about. Especially Heraclitus and John 1:14 from In Praise of Darkness.

>> No.18176496

For me, it's The Theologians

>After having razed the garden and profaned the chalices and altars, the Huns entered the monastery library on horseback and trampled the incomprehensible books and vituperated and burned them, perhaps fearful that the letters concealed blasphemies against their god, which was an iron scimitar.

>> No.18176568

>>18176358
i am going to show your mother these rude posts you've been making online. I hope your relationship can withstand the blow

>> No.18176788

>>18176356
>>18176350
>For Mr. Borges, the short story - a literary form ''whose indispensable elements are economy and a clearly stated beginning, middle and end'' -was the most compelling form. Once he wrote: ''In the course of a lifetime devoted chiefly to books, I have read but few novels and, in most cases, only a sense of duty has enabled me to find my way to their last page. I have always been a reader and rereader of short stories.''

>> No.18177922

>>18176788
based illiterate famous writer

>> No.18178234

>>18175478
Nabokov hated Borges in his later life. He called him empty

>> No.18178317

La Casa de Asterion is my favorite from El Aleph.
>>18175705
I don't know in translation but I have a book with all his poems. I occasionally read a few and I like them.

>> No.18178349

>>18178317
What do you like about The house of Asterion? I see it on a lot of favourites but it's ending kills the story on rereads.

>> No.18178563

>>18175674
The part where he directly compares two identical passages with completely different interpretations is funny. Does raise interesting points about literary context too.

>> No.18179242

>>18178234
Can't find a source to back this up

>> No.18179259

>>18176496
based fellow chad