Jibran’s Comments (group member since Jul 24, 2015)

Jibran’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

^ Great titles. Thanks, Yolande :)

Best works would refer to those which are most well-known or most read or most liked. We can point out to 'best works' with some agreement among prolific writers though admittedly sometimes it is difficult to single out the 'best' in a relatively small body of work which is evenly liked and appreciated. (for instance Kafka).

Trav, imho, it'd be more interesting if we let the stories suggest the themes instead of the other way round. This way readers will bring to the discussion themes and ideas gleaned from the stories than discussing the stories in a template set beforehand? I am not very clear on the thematic approach so I might be misinterpreting Cecily's proposals. You might start with a thematic discussion based on relevant (and best) stories and see how it goes. If it works, stick with it, if not, there's always the good old way :)

I'm excited to join the reading and discussion. Thanks for this thread and your efforts, Trav and Cecily.

If I may so, I think thematic approach suits Borges experts well, but readers not very familiar with the writer might find it somewhat confusing to follow, not least because themes overlap and delineating them with a selection of stories from across his complete works might be a bit reductive.

You may use Collected Fictions as the benchmark and carry the discussions per book. Personally, and in general, I'm not a fan of chronological reading and like to go straight to an author's best works and then branch out into lesser ones if I like their best. So my suggestion would be to select a book out of Fictions, or a selection of stories (five, seven, ten stories) out of one or two books at maximum. How about starting with stories in Labyrinths? Or a selection from Labyrinths and El Aleph combined? The final selection of stories should rest with the leader of the thread.