Take a new look at Labyrinths, the classic by Latin America's finest writer of the twentieth century—a true literary sensation—with cyber-author William Gibson.
The groundbreaking trans-genre work of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) has been insinuating itself into the structure, stance, and very breath of world literature for well over half a century. Multi-layered, self-referential, elusive, and allusive writing is now frequently labeled Borgesian. Umberto Eco's international bestseller, The Name of the Rose, is, on one level, an elaborate improvisation on Borges' fiction "The Library," which American readers first encountered in the original 1962 New Directions publication of Labyrinths.
This new edition of Labyrinths, the classic representative selection of Borges' writing edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby (in translations by themselves and others), includes the text of the original edition (as augmented in 1964) as well as Irby's biographical and critical essay, a poignant tribute by André Maurois, and a chronology of the author's life. Borges enthusiast William Gibson has contributed a new introduction bringing Borges' influence and importance into the twenty-first century.
Borges was a hep cat, man, I'll concede that & seems to read a bit but his stories read like friggin' medical textbooks! Fine for scientists & other geeks of that type but a bit dull for the average reader. My favorite story was `Garden of Forking Paths,' which is the clearest story & easiest to understand. The `Secret of the Sect of the Phoenix' I'm assuming deals with Freemasonry though Borges claims it was homosexuality. But then he claimed a lot of weird things.
Borges is like digesting an overdose of fiber, long, arduous, excruciating at times, & in the end stinky, heavy, & a little too black.
writes,
I speak both Spanish and English (and lived Argentina) and I can say that these English translations, particularly those of Yates, are some of the best I have come across. (Yates was Borges's first English translator and the translator of another remarkable but little known Argentine writer, Edgar Brau.) Yates stays true to the original, gracefully rendering the complex subtleties of Borges's style, unlike some other translators of his work.
writes,
This collection of stories is far more interesting and evocative than I was expecting, an excellent read from start to finish.
