Reviews

The Sonnets by Jorge Luis Borges, Stephen Kessler, Suzanne Jill Levine

aidaniamb's review against another edition

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3.0

Borges is a profound Postmodern writer from Argentina. He is most famous for the short story collection “Labyrinths”, a book on my fiction shortlist. Although best know for his fiction he thought of himself first as a poet. As he became blind later in life he dedicated himself to the composition of his sonnets, as he could do that work in only his mind and then dictate the words to a typist later. His poems are cryptic but I remember enjoying them. Borges’ work was where I first discovered that artists could create their own language of symbols and images with an initially relative meaning that is gradually established and given to a reader through a whole body of work. I liked getting lost in Borges’ spinning dreams. There were a few of his stories at the back of “Dreamtigers”. They showed why he is so respected in that medium. He is definitely an author I will return to. I’ll probably understand him better next time

aidaniamb's review

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3.0

Borges is a profound Postmodern writer from Argentina. He is most famous for the short story collection “Labyrinths”, a book on my fiction shortlist. Although best know for his fiction he thought of himself first as a poet. As he became blind later in life he dedicated himself to the composition of his sonnets, as he could do that work in only his mind and then dictate the words to a typist later. His poems are cryptic but I remember enjoying them. Borges’ work was where I first discovered that artists could create their own language of symbols and images with an initially relative meaning that is gradually established and given to a reader through a whole body of work. I liked getting lost in Borges’ spinning dreams. There were a few of his stories at the back of “Dreamtigers”. They showed why he is so respected in that medium. He is definitely an author I will return to. I’ll probably understand him better next time

jackiijackii's review

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4.0

I love Borges. I call him my dead-writer husband. And while I didn't love his poetry at first (I was too deep in his fiction and non-fiction), it didn't take long for me to change my mind; however, this collection only gets four stars because I didn't like some of the translations. They were ok on their own as poems, but not close enough to the Spanish meaning for me. Actually, after reading a handful, I realized that I didn't like specific translators. *shrug* It happens. I have other translations I like.
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