Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges

Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Borges writes philosophical fantasy and sometimes mystery stories.

1. Borges and Me/ Borges y Yo (4 stars)- I've read this one in both Spanish and English. I don't prefer a version. It's a simple short story about Borges's identity as a person versus as a writer that I enjoyed.

2. The Garden of Forking Paths (4 stars)- One of the things that is particularly interesting to me about this story is that its concept of time has been hypothesized by the multiverse theory of physics. The first person to propose information that would later lead to the multiverse theory was Erwin Schrödinger, in 1952, some years after Borges wrote this story.

3. Man On Pink Corner (5 stars)- Rosendo Juarez, men and dogs respected him. A fun little murder mystery. Pay close attention!

4. The Library of Babel- (5 stars) Amazing thought experiment/ work of philosophy. (Note: The library in The Magicians anyone?)

5. Death and a Compass/La Muerte y La Brujula (3 stars)- Read in Spanish and in English. Erik Lönnrot tries to solve murders which seem to follow a kabbalistic pattern. This one appears to be a favorite as it appears in all three of my Borges anthologies, but it's not one of my favorites. It's tricky and clever but I don't get much more from it.
"... la realidad no tiene la menor obligacion de ser interesante."
"... reality does not have the slightest obligation to be interesting."

6. The Lottery in Babylon/ The Babylon Lottery (3 stars)- More of the ideas of infinite choices and possibilities expressed in The Garden of Forking Paths and The Library of Babel. This is not my favorite execution of Borges's ideas about possible futures and philosophy.

7. The Maker (3 stars)- Very short, and I didn't get much from it.

8. The Zahir (3 stars)- Whatever this metaphor is I missed it.

9. The Encounter (3 stars)-Knife-control? Didn't love this story either.

10. The Circular Ruins (3.5 stars)- This is a very "La Vida es Sueno" type story. It's lovely though not earth-shattering.

11. Shakespeare's Memory (5 stars)- I love a lot about this story. I love Borges's conception of personhood. I love Shakespeare. I love the way Borges blatantly shows off his literary chops. Like many of his other great stories, you start to inhabit the story as if you are dreaming it and you lose sight of the real world around you.

12. August 25, 1983 (4 stars)- Hello me, it's future you. Don't you have anything useful to tell me? Nope.

13. The Immortal (5 stars)- As above, I am lost in the dream.

14. Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote (3.5 stars)- A bit of a spin on Borges y Yo basically.

15. The Story from Rosendo Juarez (3.5 stars)- Sequel to a Man on a Pink Corner!

16. The Aleph (5 stars)- What a super amazing story of romance. It is an insane work of fantasy. It's an interesting work of spirituality and philosophy. I love the ending. My heart might explode.

17. Dreamtigers (2 stars?)- He really was obsessed with tigers though. It's in almost all the stories.

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