Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges | Thoughts & Comments 

You are right this book of short stories is one of the best speculative fiction ever written. The immaculate writing condenses the collective knowledge of a genius into the short form, fusing the real and the extraordinary into such memorable art. My favorites are the Circular Ruins, The Library of Babel and the Garden of Forking Paths. To be honest, however all of the stories have something unique and compelling to say about the universe. Thank you for your video.

I just started this. I had the book for I don't know exactly, maybe 30 years languishing on a shelf. Every time I went to find a book to read I would say to myself, oh look, there's Borges ... scary. I had a feeling that he would be like Lovecraft or Poe and while I respect those authors, I don't enjoy reading them. Finally, as I live in a neighbouring country to Argentina and after hearing someone talk about him online, I decided to give him a go. At the same time I bought the complete short stories in Spanish so I can parallel read them to help with my spanish. I have read Marquez and while both are considered 'Magic Realism' Borges is about ideas and so far as I can tell after 3 stories less so about characters while Marquez is all about human affairs and people. I think Borges is very European while Marquez is grounded in Latin American (culture) and there is a magic to this part of the world which is so different to the magic (not literal magic that is) of other parts. You would never get a Tolkien or Harry Potter out of this part (LA) of the world.

The very best creative ideas in my opinion are the ones that lend themselves to seemingly endless literary permutations and variations. The reason Borges resonates so strongly is because he succeeds at this in all his stories. None of them are any longer than 10 or 11 pages at the very most, and yet you could write volumes about the ideas within, and many authors have.

Great to see someone talk about this book with the passion and awe it deserves! What's particularly great about The Secret Miracle is how Borges takes the story from the Qur'an which you recited, where in the story the man is caused to die (i.e. time stops within him but continues outside) for 100 years and then is resurrected. But what Borges does is take this parable and invert it whereby the world stops outside of him but time continues within him (infinitely if he hadn't resolved the play) till his death. A truly incredible and underrated piece in a book of incredible stories. p.s. Funes (foo-ness)

I'm so happy to find english speakers reading Borges. To Latin americans, he is a Legend, yet he deserves more recognition in the rest of the world. Talking about essays, you should seek Borges' essays. I've read a few and they are AMAZING, as Borges was such an erudite, his arguments are supported by quotes on Literture, Aesthetics, History, etc. definitely worth reading.

Nice video. I suggest you check out the old Yugoslavian writer, Danilo Kis. The Encyclopaedia of the Dead is a really good one and very similar to Borges. Or A Tomb for Boris Davidovich. He definitely fits into your post-modern style and what you are looking for in a book 😁

Too few subs for such a good selection of books reviewed.

great intellectual works by Borges , but for real feeling and insight go to his poetry. I like this kind of constructive criticism and appreciation of great works, 'better than food' good too. He is very watchable and I tend to agree with all that he says. You can tell he is a bit of a character too. (New follower.).

Oh and on other Borges stuff I would highly suggest re-reading the same stories in the translations contained in the collection "Labyrinths". I find those translations by Irby & Yates to be far superior and poetic than Hurley's in the copy you have! Borges has some excellent poetry and non-fiction too, dealing with similar metaphysical themes! As other fiction goes he pretty much peaked with Ficciones and El Aleph, had an very good collection of parables in The Maker/Dreamtigers in 1960 I believe, but after this due to his blindness his prose work went downhill because he didn't have the eyesight to meticulously construct and revise the labyrinths of his past. Still worth reading some stories post-1960 ( "The Mirror & The Mask" and "The Other" are particularly good!)

El milagro secreto es tremendo. Its my favorite short story. My mind just 🤯

Aw so great to share the aww I have for Borges with someone. Just discovered your channel and I’m subscribing :-) Funnily enough I just made a video about „The circular ruins“ from this collection. Keep going

I first read Borges about 12 years ago. I wrote a blog post about the 3 'sampler' type trade paperbacks published at the time, On Argentina, On Writing, and On Mysticism. I think he's fascinating. I need to go back and read more of his work. Good to hear you found him fascinating and provocative as well.

Great review! I would recommend you a couple of books: Other Inquisitions, a marvelous essay book, and Universal History of Infamy, a book with real-ish stories about famous criminals (Im not sure about the english name of those, Im argentinian and only know the spanish names). Oh, and The book of sand is a wonderful story, is like another version of the library of babel