Jorge Luís Borges: the ultimate man of letters

The main idea behind this post about Jorge Luis Borges is that you can get into Borges world and see by yourself, so I'm just going to give a small overview of how I got in.

He has been mainly known by his short stories, but he was also a poet, specialist in history, literature... he wrote essays, literary criticism, reviews, screenplays... but I've only read most of his short stories and got enough to be amazed.

I've read later that he was also capable of translating Oscar Wilde into Spanish at the age of 10, and also that he had a quote saying more or less: "Democracy is a widely extended superstition. It's an abuse of statistics" Well, to be honest, never mind his political ideas or child aptitudes: he is a no-brainer as one of the best writers of the XXth century.

I can't remember when I first crossed with him, but I remember it was the book "El Aleph" which immediately got me inside his world of time, infinity, abstraction, and perception. He gives an in depth look to a lot of important realities using a fantastic approach (sometimes) and mastering the art of writing (everytime), besides, the most important thing: he'll make you think, and that's something most authors won't be able to do.

After "El Aleph" I read also "The book of sand", "The garden of forking paths" and "Ficciones" where my favorite short story can be found ("Funes the memorious", the story of a man who could not forget anything and the best approach I've seen to our need of abstraction as human beings: without abstraction we could not think at all) I've stopped there for the moment, but I don't think it's a world you can get out easily, and I'm just waiting for the next appropriate moment to get in again.

Keep in mind that Borges is not obviously the type of literature you can read when commuting, but if you have the time to spend an afternoon alone reading Borges in your couch, be sure your brain will thank you.

Aquest post es va publicar al meu blog paral·lel el 16/08/06. La il·lustració de Borges és de Jan Op de Beck.