Reviews

El Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges

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savaging's review against another edition

5.0

La muerte (o su alusión) hace preciosos y patéticos a los hombres. Éstos conmueven por su condición fantasmas; cada acto que ejecutan puede ser último; no hay rostro que no esté por desdibujarse como el rostro de un sueño. Todo, entre los mortales, tiene el valor de lo irrecuperable y de lo azaroso.

In this book, any precious thing is balanced between loss and recovery. Death and some magic of resurrection.

My favorite stories in it were "El inmortal" and "La espera," which are mostly reflections on the emotional/psychological condition of ones facing death. "Emma Zunz" is also in here, a great story that is often anthologized.

Borges is a headache to read in Spanish, but it was easy to find an English version of this collection to figure out who had actually tricked whom into whose labyrinth, and who wrote the ancient historical text about it and sold it to which rare bookdealer . . .

danielkallin04's review against another edition

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4.0

Every few pages Borges manages to change my perception of the world. Some of these stories are eye-opening even if they fail to reveal the meaning of life, they still contain infinity. That said, there were a couple of stories that I didn't get into and "The Maker" section was a bit too specific to Argentina and Classics for me to fully appreciate. But, looking past that, Borges is a god.