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uncomfypants 's review for:
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings
by Jorge Luis Borges
I’m disappointed. Borges has been recommended to me for years, and I AM interested in his themes but…idk this was a slog. I have a very old version, so I don’t know if my issue here is awkward, dated, clunky translation, or if it’s just Borges. I did not care much for his preferred method of story telling - some sort of retrospective scholar ruminating on an idea, memory, or finding. I found these stories on the whole unremarkable and frankly rather boring. Though sometimes the themes or concepts were intriguing, the method of delivery was usually too stale, matter of fact, and impenetrable for my tastes, which is surprising given how short most of his stories are. He’s also like, really preoccupied with Cervantes and Quixote, which I haven’t read yet so Idk why he’s so obsessed.
I understand that his technique was considered groundbreaking at the time, and I see that. But I prefer my magical realism REAL and as stories, not the musty dusty musings of a retired old academic. Not sure why this collection is so recommended for magical realism fans…
Stories-
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius: 2
The Garden of Forking Paths: 4
The Lottery in Babylon: 3
Pierre Menard, Author of Quixote: 1
The Circular Ruins: 4
The Library of Babel: 4
Fumes the Memorious: 3
The Shape of the Sword: 4
Theme of the Traitor and the Hero: 2
Death and the Compass: 3.5
The Secret Miracle: 4
Three Versions of Judas: 1
The Sect of the Phoenix: 2
The Immortal: 4
The Theologians: 2 (the end was the most intriguing part ughhh I wanted more of that)
Story of the Warrior and the Captive: 1
Emma Zunz: 4.5
The House of Asterion: 4
Deutsches Requiem: 2
Averroes’s Search: 2 (really wanted to like this aw man)
The Zahir: 2
The Waiting: 3
The God’s Script: 3
I will abstain from rating the essays because though he’s a great, deep thinker idgaf about any of this and have no idea what he’s talking about most of the time tbh.
Parables-
Inferno, I, 32: 5
Paradiso, XXI, 108: 4
Ragnarök: 5
Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote: 3
The Witness: 4
A Problem: 3
Borges and I: 3
Everything and Nothing: 2