#7

Remember also, that if you write a word-perfect copy of Don Quixote, without actually having read Don Quixote, only having done research about the life of Cervantes, it is somehow better and more authentic than the original, despite being the same in every word.

(Also applies to cover songs)

#8

goddamn it, Labyrinths is on loan :weary:

#9

Fictions has a lot of the same stories in.

#10

Here is the whole story, it’s only a few pages long:

#11

and it turned out that there was actually a copy of it in the flat!!! It was and still is good.

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#12

He has plenty of stories about mysterious books turning up in people’s lives too…

#13

I did a module on Latin American fantastical short stories at uni and we read his story El Sur, which I really love. I bought Ficciones in Spanish off the back of that and it’s the only book I’ve read in Spanish that hasn’t been compulsory for uni.

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#14

I read Ficciones in Spanish too- great fun. (I dunno whether you can say I speak Spanish or not- it’s debatable- basically I understand it with ease, but when I speak it’s basically some Spanished-up Italian, but everyone understands me).

Borges did some of his own translation for some of his other books, as he was also an English speaker through his family.

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#15

So after making me make the book thread of 2017 you make a seperate thread discussing the author of the book I bring up. I see how it is.

#16

Borges is just that good.

#17

when i read labyrinths a few years back it was the first time in years i’d been floored by someone’s writing. the stories themselves are fantastic, but the interplay of ideas when you read them in conversation with one another is what i found most rewarding. can’t think of many other writers who provoke so much thought in a relatively short space - remember feeling like he’d melted my mind (in a very good way). library of babel definitely the most memorable for me, and i also remember finding the history of tlon and uqbar fascinating and unsettling.

would second the ‘borges is just that good’ comment.

#18

Yeah I’ve only read Labyrinths but really enjoyed it. Think my favourite story was Deutsches Requiem purely for the idea of a person allowed to finish his story in frozen time, or maybe the circular ruins because of how mystical and escapist it is.
Always liked Baudrillard’s description of him as a blind tiger let loose in your library too.

#19

Isn’t that The Secret Miracle?

#20

Oh yeah! It’s been ages tbh

#21

Just googled Deutsches Requiem and it sounds pretty similar tbf!

#22

Love Borges so much. What’s the story where there’s a map the same size as the country it depicts? Classic Borges.

#23

Also if you wanna read the Lottery in Babylon, one of my all-time favourite stories, here it is for free online (it’s a short read)

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#24

Phew, was worried this had been bumped because he died.

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#25

Afraid I’ve got some bad news for you…

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#26

woah it’s Em!!

hi Em

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