Fictions  (English, Paperback, Luis Borges Jorge)

Fictions, written by Jorge Luis Borges, is an anthology of short stories translated from Spanish written by the Argentine writer and poet. This is often considered his best introductory work, and is an English translation of the Spanish compilation.

Summary Of The Book

Fictions is an anthology of short stories and fantastic tales, translated from the Spanish version that comprises narrative prose sections. Borge's Fictions brought about a completely different theme into world literature. Each story employs various literary devices to make the story appear natural and the characters lively. Initially published in 1941, his Ficciones compressed philosophies and poetry that was worth several centuries. It contained 17 tiny, unclassifiable pieces of prose. He wrote imaginative detective stories, and commentaries on books that didn’t exist and in that process he had explored all the previous notions of this genre.

The book has an enormous influence on writers and perhaps more importantly has also influenced the readers by changing the way one reads. Borges’ style of writing did not have an ideological agenda, but had a kind of radical philosophical playfulness. His ontological works comprised labyrinths, mirrors, lotteries, doubles, libraries, heresiarchs and dreams. Ideas were less important to him than the sense of aesthetics. Like any other idealist philosopher, he seeked the astounding and not the mere truth.

Certain English phrases appear in between his Spanish stories and often, the title is in English. He often creates his protagonists in red enclosures that led to the stories being looked upon from a Freudian viewpoint that he himself had strongly disliked. Borges loved books and has given detailed descriptions of all the characteristics of his fictional texts. Some of his other stories were based on themes like philosophies, strategy games, conspiracies, ethnic groups, secret societies, fictional libraries, and religion.

About Jorge Luis Borges

Borges was an Argentine essayist, poet, translator and short-story writer. His other works include The Garden Of Forking Paths, The Circular Ruins, The Aleph, Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, A New Refutation of Time, and On Exactitude in Science. He also wrote poems called El Golem ("The Golem") and Things.

He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was married to Elsa Astete Millán and later María Kodama. Apart from short stories, Borges has also written many essays, poems, literary criticisms, screenplays and edited many anthologies. He has also translated the literary works of English, German and French writers into Spanish. The 14-page story, The Congress, is the longest of his fictional works. He died of liver cancer in the year 1986 in Geneva.