For fans of Nabokov, Borges’ work is for you.
Ficciones is a fantastic presentation of puzzles and mysteries, religion and libraries. Featuring various translators (Anthony Kerrigan, Anthony Bonner, Anthony Boucher, Alastair Reid, Helen Temple, and Ruthven Todd), this collection of short stories will draw you in, if only so you can further tease out the meaning.
Borges pens each tale with a vast vocabulary and a playfulness of language. Falsified encyclopaedia entries, languages, an infinite library – you’ll find more than one story of logic in this volume. The translation reads smoothly, quickly. There’s a glint of Borges personality in between the lines. Each plot makes you think – not as a detective might solve a crime, but as a mathematician maybe solving a problem.While I enjoyed most, if not all, of the tales, I will focus on one in particular. The final work in the collection, “The South” translated by Anthony Kerrigan, offers a glimpse into the mind of Argentine Juan Dahlmann, a descendant of a German immigrant from 1871. Jaun, however, is fascinated with his grandfather, who died on the frontier from an native’s attack.
In 1939 Juan saves his grandfather’s ranch, and continues to be fascinated with him, not only how he lived but how he died. One day, he gets a copy of Thousand and One Nights, and in his rush to read it, he skims the edge of a recently painted door. Red paint splashes on his forehead.From that time onwards, he becomes paranoid of his faith, until he is finally committed to a sanatorium.
This story, however, becomes far more interesting once he leaves the sanatorium, and returns to the ancient Argentine South.
Certainly, Borges is a must read, and due to the date of his works, you can find them in several formats. Read Ficciones (or anything by Borges, really) if you love a masterful rhythm and vocabulary in prose.
Missed a NIE! Review? Check out last month's The Beginning of Guidance.
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