Getting to know an author means to learn about his universe: his literary sources,
his recurrent questions and topics, his dreams and his obsessions.
In the case of Borges, reducing his universe to a list of suggestions becomes a real challenge .
How can one possibly abbreviate a corpus of such richness and depth into a mere list?
The answer can be found in the following words by Emir Rodríguez Monegal:
"Maybe the most effective way of entering Borges' literary world is to accept, once and for all, that Borges' works
constitute, in fact, a self-contained literature within literature"
I have thus divided the following list of suggestions in different genres:
Stories:
The following stories capture the essence of Borges' storytelling at its best:
- The Circular Ruins
- Funes, his Memory
- The Garden of Forking paths
- The Library of Babel
- The Writing of the God
- The Aleph
- The Book of Sand
- The Other
- The House of Asterion
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They can all be found in the recent English compilation of his narrative entitled
Collected Fictions
Poetry:
With the passing of time, Borges polished his poetic style.
Borges' aim in his later years was, in his own words, "to write as simply as possibly, aiming at complexity but in a secret and modest way, without this being apparent."
His writing became increasingly simple and direct. Due to this, his later works are
the most accessible to new readers and they thus constitute an excellent introduction to Borges' poetic universe.
For this reason, I always recommend tackling his poetry in reverse chronological order:
- Los
Conjurados (1985)
- La
Cifra (1981)
- Historia
de La Noche (1977)
- La
Moneda de Hierro (1976) ...
A significant part of Borges' poetry can now be found in
Selected Poems
which is organized chronologically, covering most of his works -from Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923) to Los Conjurados (1985)- and has
the added bonus of being a fully bi-lingual edition including the original Spanish plus the English translation of each poem.
Again, my advice is: start at the end of the book, and read back in time, starting with the latest poems and gently making your way back to the earlier ones.
Lectures:
Borges used to remember that some of his first lectures had to be delivered by a friend: Borges was too shy and terrified of speaking in public.
With time, however, Borges grew to enjoy this art, and he routinely toured Argentina and the world
as a speaker. His lectures, full of candor, wit and penetrating observations about literature, are rich intellectual essays in their own right.
Seven Nights,
a translated compilation of seven lectures that Borges delivered at the Teatro Coliseo (Buenos Aires) in 1977, is
an excellent starting point: these lectures show Borges' ability as a speaker, and are also a good introduction to his
universal outlook, as they span many different literatures from various regions in time and space.
The lectures in Seven Nights were originally delivered in Spanish and later translated into English.
But Borges was fluent in English as well, and he frequently lectured in that language.
If you want to read and hear Borges' lectures originally delivered in English, my best recommendation is "This craft of verse", the lectures that he delivered at Harvard University in 1966 on the art of poetry.
They are available in both book
and CD-ROM editions.
Essays:
A good compilation of Borges' essays can be found in his
Selected Non-fictions
Any selection implies an exclusion; this list undoubtedly leaves out many stories, poems and essays likely considered essential by many a
dedicated reader. The goal, however, has not been to produce an exhaustive
list of readings but an introduction to Borges' craft. Experience has shown that the above list
is often successful in sparking the interest of new readers, making them want to learn and read more.
Kindling that interest as a way of welcoming new readers to Borges' worlds is the single modest goal of this brief Borgesian selection.
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