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Labyrinthe
This edition contains translations into German from Jorge Luis Borges' collections of short stories: 'El Aleph' (1949) and 'Ficciones' (1944). The English edition, 'Labyrinths', contains these and three additional stories plus essays; this version was published in German as 'Die zwei Labyrinthe'.
Stories included (German titles):
Die beiden Könige und die beiden Labyrinthe
Die Wartezeit
Der Mann auf der Schwelle
Das geheime Wunder
Der Garten der Pfade, die sich verzweigen
Das unerbittliche Gedächtnis
Die Narbe
Deutsches Requiem
Das Aleph
Die Inschrift des Gottes
Die Lotterie in Babylon
Die Bibliothek von Babel
Drei Fassungen des Judas
Der andere Tod
Das Thema vom Verräter und dem Helden
Emma Zunz
Das Ende
Der Süden
Der Tote
Averroes auf der Suche
It also includes a Nachwort by Karl August Horst.
Stories included (German titles):
Die beiden Könige und die beiden Labyrinthe
Die Wartezeit
Der Mann auf der Schwelle
Das geheime Wunder
Der Garten der Pfade, die sich verzweigen
Das unerbittliche Gedächtnis
Die Narbe
Deutsches Requiem
Das Aleph
Die Inschrift des Gottes
Die Lotterie in Babylon
Die Bibliothek von Babel
Drei Fassungen des Judas
Der andere Tod
Das Thema vom Verräter und dem Helden
Emma Zunz
Das Ende
Der Süden
Der Tote
Averroes auf der Suche
It also includes a Nachwort by Karl August Horst.
163 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1969
About the author
Jorge Luis Borges
1,607 books14.7k followersJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, Ficciones (transl. Fictions) and El Aleph (transl. The Aleph), published in the 1940s, are collections of short stories exploring motifs such as dreams, labyrinths, chance, infinity, archives, mirrors, fictional writers and mythology. Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and have had a major influence on the magic realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature.
Born in Buenos Aires, Borges later moved with his family to Switzerland in 1914, where he studied at the Collège de Genève. The family travelled widely in Europe, including Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in surrealist literary journals. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer. In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library and professor of English Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. He became completely blind by the age of 55. Scholars have suggested that his progressive blindness helped him to create innovative literary symbols through imagination. By the 1960s, his work was translated and published widely in the United States and Europe. Borges himself was fluent in several languages.
In 1961, he came to international attention when he received the first Formentor Prize, which he shared with Samuel Beckett. In 1971, he won the Jerusalem Prize. His international reputation was consolidated in the 1960s, aided by the growing number of English translations, the Latin American Boom, and by the success of Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. He dedicated his final work, The Conspirators, to the city of Geneva, Switzerland. Writer and essayist J.M. Coetzee said of him: "He, more than anyone, renovated the language of fiction and thus opened the way to a remarkable generation of Spanish-American novelists."
Born in Buenos Aires, Borges later moved with his family to Switzerland in 1914, where he studied at the Collège de Genève. The family travelled widely in Europe, including Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in surrealist literary journals. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer. In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library and professor of English Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. He became completely blind by the age of 55. Scholars have suggested that his progressive blindness helped him to create innovative literary symbols through imagination. By the 1960s, his work was translated and published widely in the United States and Europe. Borges himself was fluent in several languages.
In 1961, he came to international attention when he received the first Formentor Prize, which he shared with Samuel Beckett. In 1971, he won the Jerusalem Prize. His international reputation was consolidated in the 1960s, aided by the growing number of English translations, the Latin American Boom, and by the success of Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. He dedicated his final work, The Conspirators, to the city of Geneva, Switzerland. Writer and essayist J.M. Coetzee said of him: "He, more than anyone, renovated the language of fiction and thus opened the way to a remarkable generation of Spanish-American novelists."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 4, 2021
What a struggle it was to get through this volume of short stories. And how have the mighty fallen. Borges was the hero
of the post-modern 1980s. I encounteres him everywhere, quoted in pomo literature, analysed in pomo Theory (always in the singular, always with a silent capital T), lauded, read 'against' and 'with' (a favourite pomo pastime) Freud, Eco, Morelli, Giambattista Vico, Cervantes, Calvino and other (male) greats of the decade.
I loved all that shit. So I was excited finally to read some actual Borges himself, three decades on. I had a vague memory of the library of Babylon (or was it Babel?) being particularly lauded and expected much of this set piece of philosophy and quirky magical imagination.
Such disappointment. The prose throughout is turgid. This is no doubt partly due to the terrible translations from Spanish into German by Karl August Horst and Liselotte Reger. Clunky, impossible to follow, grammatically abstruse. Then there was the distinct sense that I am not the intended audience. This is for an All Male Club of Literati. Women appear in the stories sporadically (maybe 5% of page space?). The one story that has a woman as its MC, 'Emma Zunz', is about shame, revenge, prostitution, and sexual humiliation. Not a single other protagonist has sexuality even be part of their story. One man in "Der Tote" (Dead man) does have an affair but the woman appears as a mere bargaining chip among men. This is tedious and terrible. Not that I mind all-male stories but I need them to have some sorr of self-reflection in order to be palatable or even excellent. Not this Borgesian assumption, unquestioned, that all interesting things happen to and with and around men. The lauded library story (of Babel; Babylon is the place of the eternal lottery, also much vaunted back in the day) describes an endless library made up of six-sided chambers, connected by hallways, each with a bathroom and a sleeping closet. The library is thw whole world; its denizens live and die there. They are all men. But how do they reproduce? Are they spontaneously spawned? Their genesis is not touched upon. The gender blind spot of Borges constitutes a spectacular failure of the imagination.
One story only, Averroes auf der Suche / Averroes seeking, is a bit compelling in its acheing imagining of true cultural incomprehension despite a yearning to understand. But even that is spoiled by a self-indulgent authorial meta-epilogue. Sigh.
I do appreciate cerebral literature that doesn't dumb down its erudition. But steeped in unreconstructed patriarchy? With ultimately pointless plots and predictable ennui?
Two stars for nostalgia's sake and because I chose this from my dead father's library. His literary tastes ran that way but I could have talked about this book with him and he would have been open, eloquent and enthusiastic. I miss his intellectual curiosity and humour.
I read this for the popsugar challenge of ugliest cover. The German Dtv edition of 1969 features a design of phenomenal hideousness: a square divided inyo four internal triangles, in three different shades of plug-ugly purple. Vile. Designed by Dtv's resident cover artist Celestino Piatti. Piatti, how did you get it so wrong? Or maybe not wrong - maybe the cover reflects what's inside.
ETA: I have pasted this review into the English edition as the German edition was not linked. It is here: Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings
of the post-modern 1980s. I encounteres him everywhere, quoted in pomo literature, analysed in pomo Theory (always in the singular, always with a silent capital T), lauded, read 'against' and 'with' (a favourite pomo pastime) Freud, Eco, Morelli, Giambattista Vico, Cervantes, Calvino and other (male) greats of the decade.
I loved all that shit. So I was excited finally to read some actual Borges himself, three decades on. I had a vague memory of the library of Babylon (or was it Babel?) being particularly lauded and expected much of this set piece of philosophy and quirky magical imagination.
Such disappointment. The prose throughout is turgid. This is no doubt partly due to the terrible translations from Spanish into German by Karl August Horst and Liselotte Reger. Clunky, impossible to follow, grammatically abstruse. Then there was the distinct sense that I am not the intended audience. This is for an All Male Club of Literati. Women appear in the stories sporadically (maybe 5% of page space?). The one story that has a woman as its MC, 'Emma Zunz', is about shame, revenge, prostitution, and sexual humiliation. Not a single other protagonist has sexuality even be part of their story. One man in "Der Tote" (Dead man) does have an affair but the woman appears as a mere bargaining chip among men. This is tedious and terrible. Not that I mind all-male stories but I need them to have some sorr of self-reflection in order to be palatable or even excellent. Not this Borgesian assumption, unquestioned, that all interesting things happen to and with and around men. The lauded library story (of Babel; Babylon is the place of the eternal lottery, also much vaunted back in the day) describes an endless library made up of six-sided chambers, connected by hallways, each with a bathroom and a sleeping closet. The library is thw whole world; its denizens live and die there. They are all men. But how do they reproduce? Are they spontaneously spawned? Their genesis is not touched upon. The gender blind spot of Borges constitutes a spectacular failure of the imagination.
One story only, Averroes auf der Suche / Averroes seeking, is a bit compelling in its acheing imagining of true cultural incomprehension despite a yearning to understand. But even that is spoiled by a self-indulgent authorial meta-epilogue. Sigh.
I do appreciate cerebral literature that doesn't dumb down its erudition. But steeped in unreconstructed patriarchy? With ultimately pointless plots and predictable ennui?
Two stars for nostalgia's sake and because I chose this from my dead father's library. His literary tastes ran that way but I could have talked about this book with him and he would have been open, eloquent and enthusiastic. I miss his intellectual curiosity and humour.
I read this for the popsugar challenge of ugliest cover. The German Dtv edition of 1969 features a design of phenomenal hideousness: a square divided inyo four internal triangles, in three different shades of plug-ugly purple. Vile. Designed by Dtv's resident cover artist Celestino Piatti. Piatti, how did you get it so wrong? Or maybe not wrong - maybe the cover reflects what's inside.
ETA: I have pasted this review into the English edition as the German edition was not linked. It is here: Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings
Displaying 1 of 1 review