Rating: 
Summary: The short story at its best
Review: If you are lucky enough to read Spanish well, you might you want to try Borges in Spanish. That's not to say that this is a poor translation but rather there are so many minute details in Borges' prose that they are sometimes lost in the translation. Regardless, this collection of stories represents one of the greatest literary accomplishments in 20th century latin-american fiction and beyond. Borges is a writer of the mind, and that's where most of his stories live. You'll find yourself asking questions about what is real and what is not; what is a dream, what is a nightmare. Borges prose is flawless and his imagination is like no other's. Influenced by philosophy, history, and art, Borges captures a piece of humanity into a collection of stories and he only leaves you wanting more and more.
Rating:
Summary: An incomparable collection of literary masterpieces
Review: This collection of Jorge Luis Borges' "fictions" brings together incomparable masterpieces of contemporary world literature. No other writer I know of has been able to muster up the sheer creative energy and intellectual power necessary to mold into shape such magnificent ideas and stories. Borges mixes the realms of mystery, mythology, adventure, metaphysics, human misery and compassion, and literary criticism into an awesome whole. His manner of prose-writing is almost equally as impressive: journalistic, balanced, eloquent, evocative. Borges' "Fictions" has had a profound influence on my way of looking at literature and the world. He has evoked an abiding interest in the mythological and historical roots of contemporary writing and, by extension, a deeper understanding and appreciation of the mysteries and meaning in the visual and musical arts, as well. I highly recommend this book (or Andrew Hurley's more complete collection) for an outstanding read.
Rating:
Summary: Ficciones
Review: I'll put it as bluntly as I can: Jorge Luis Borges is an absolute genius, a staggering mind of supreme proportions, and I thank the gods of literature that he was able to compress his ideas into these seventeen short stories for the betterment of anyone willing to read and learn from them.As a writer, Borges is not particularly interested in the reader having empathy with the characters, he doesn't really set the scene, and the storylines - when there are one - are generally fairly weak. His strength lies in the depth of thought placed within the short pages, and the general mysteries of the infinite and reality. I'll admit, the first few stories I didn't really 'get'. I read 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius', a story of an encyclopedic entry about a fictional world, and while it was enjoyable, seemed a mere flight of fancy. The second story, 'The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim' seemed to be a short variation on the theme, and by the time that one was finished, I wasn't particularly impressed. But then I read 'Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote', a treatise on why the 20th century scholar and writer Pierre Menard has written a better version of Don Quixote than Cervantes, even though the two versions are identical, and everything clicked. I realised that Borges was not trying to entertain me - and the language used and obscure literary/historical references thrown about certainly don't aid casual enjoyment - rather he was exercising my mind. By considering the ideas he presents about reality and infinity under the careful tutelage of his examples, I was, by the end of the book, struggling with concepts that I perhaps previously wouldn't have considered. The seventh story, 'The Library of Babel', was perhaps my favourite, dealing with a library that had the every single possible combination of letters within its hallowed halls. The story was an essay on life in the Library, but in actuality it was about the nature of infinity and what it means when it is applied to something tangible, like a library, or a garden. The second part of the novel, Artifices, had more of a story-telling flavour, but generally these fictional setups were used mainly to get two characters talking to one another so that they could discuss reality. While they were all amazing and essential reads, I enjoyed the more abstract pieces in the first part, 'The Garden of Forking Paths'. Borges is a difficult writer. He has an extensive vocabulary and enormous literary and historical knowledge to draw from, and he uses both without hesitation. The ideas he presents are deep, the fact that he is willing to share them in the way that he has suggests to me that he is aware that his readers are intelligent people capable of greater thought. Don't let the dry tone fool you though, while this book can't be said to be enjoyable in a swashbuckling, rolicking sense, Ficciones is a phenomenal, mind-blowing, absolutely essential read, I recommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: An incomparable collection of literary masterpieces
Review: This collection of Jorge Luis Borges' "fictions" brings together incomparable masterpieces of contemporary world literature. No other writer I know of has been able to muster up the sheer creative energy and intellectual power necessary to mold into shape such magnificent ideas and stories. Borges mixes the realms of mystery, mythology, adventure, metaphysics, human misery and compassion, and literary criticism into an awesome whole. His manner of prose-writing is almost equally as impressive: journalistic, balanced, eloquent, evocative. Borges' "Fictions" has had a profound influence on my way of looking at literature and the world. He has evoked an abiding interest in the mythological and historical roots of contemporary writing and, by extension, a deeper understanding and appreciation of the mysteries and meaning in the visual and musical arts, as well. I highly recommend this book (or Andrew Hurley's more complete collection) for an outstanding read.
Rating:
Summary: The best euro-southamerican literature
Review: People say that God sends to each nation a blind poet, which will let a trace that nobody will forget.
For Greeks, it was Homer; for Englishmen, it was Milton; for Argentinians, it was Jorge Luis Borges.
Argentinians are the Europeans of the end of the world. They are not latinos, but Europeans born overseas.
Only after understanding this duality can one understand why euro-southamerican literature is so particular, and definitely, not latin-american literature at all.
Borges, a descendant of English, Spanish and Portuguese immigrants, is the best example of this literature. His humour, his impressive erudition, his eurocentric vision, his deep philosophical thoughts are very argentinian and they need readers as cultivated as the writer. A difficult task for us, Spanish university students.
Definitely, "Ficciones" is a must-have for any Spanish-speaking person claiming to be a cultivated one.
Rating:
Summary: A special Sixth Star for Borges...
Review: No other writer I know of is more gifted at creating complete and consistent worlds - (complete with footnoted documentation, academic histories, philosophical disputes, secret societies etc) and then turning them inside out for us to view their architecture as a hall of mirrors. Borges plays skittles with ideas that most of us would labor our entire lives to get our heads around - if we were so inclined. The relationship between author and narrator in his first-person stories is beautifully crafted. This collection is a perfect introduction to this fantasic mind - and I only say "introduction" because you will want to read more.
Rating:
Summary: Complex and fascinating philosophical fictions
Review: Placing an exagerated emphasis on the 'mind game' aspect of Borges' work - especially when referring to Fictions - tends to make one consider his writings as huge mystifications which, although interesting enough to read, are first and foremost games of no major consequence. This underestimates the ambiguity that Borges knowingly uses and strips his works of their speculations' positivity. The use of the 'what if...?' motif, intrinsic to all fiction writing, is systematically employed by Borges in stories which, starting from axioms (explicitely acknowledged in 'The Library of Babel'), explore themes from multiple viewpoints (cosmology, philosophy, theology, art...) and provide multiple levels of interpretation. Stories such as 'Death and the Compass' and 'The Garden of Forking Paths' are as much about the mechanics of suspense-laden literature as they are, among other things, about the relationship between someone and his/her intellectual and spiritual pursuits; pieces like 'The Library of Babel' and 'Funes the Memorious' are at once fairy tales and fascinating texts on knowledge. Through metaphor and allegory, the stories of 'Fictions' provide a vision of the world devoid of restraining reflexes; reading them, one is forced to question his/her own habits (the same can be said about Borges' reviews of imaginary authors and books). The theme of the double, which was to become even more important later, here surfaces in stories where the notions of hero and villain are reconfigured. 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' and 'Pierre Menard, author of the Quixote' are probably the best-known, but every piece manages to raise questions and problems, not always solving them. Essential reading.
Rating:
Summary: Borges, period.
Review: "We are in the presence of an original Borges invention: the invention of an invention." Umberto Eco. It is as simple as this: it does not get any better than Borges. Borges has always been disturbed by the idea that readers should always be 'active,' and not 'passive' as the great majority of readers are. Ficciones is just an example of that. Whenever you read anything written by Borges you must keep in mind that every single word is ther for a reason, any quotes must be double checked (he cites himself a lot), everything seems to be unreal. Erudition just flows in his stories and that is just great.
Rating:
Summary: A sly milestone of 20th century literature
Review: While only a slim volume of about 100 pages, Jorge Luis Borges' FICCIONES is one of the 20th century's most original and influential works. A set of two collections of short stories, ''The Garden of Forking Paths" and ''Artifices", FICCIONES was the world's first exposure to the Argentinian writer and Borges' all-around best work. The nature of the stories which Borges crafted is so unique and subtle that it defies description. He portrayed unusual occurrences, and peppered his stories, narrated in a faux-scholastic style, with references to colourful sources that, while sounding plausible, are of Borges' own invention and can be found in no library. In the first story of FICCIONES, ''Tlon, Uqbar, Orbius Tertius," he imagines an encyclopedia mysteriously containing a entry for a country that is not to be found - at least not in our reality. ''The Approach to Al-Mutasim" is a review of a book which doesn't exist; here, in a reversal of the usual order, the review brings the book into being. ''The Babylon Lottery" and ''The Library of Babel" are both clever metaphors for the human world. In the first, Borges describes an ancient society which lets all things be decided by chance. In the second, which introduced the concept of the infinite library, the story's setting is an unimaginably vast archive whose librarians from birth to death care for books whose meanings cannot be deciphered. Jorge Luis Borges often used several key motifs in his books, such as mirrors and labyrinths, and it is this reuse of symbols which has created the ''Borgesian" genre. These symbols and the offbeat constructions which Borges almost singlehandedly invented went on to inspire legions of writers, including Gene Wolfe and Salman Rushdie. The translation of FICCIONES has long been a divisive issue. While some, such as myself, believe that this versions of FICCIONES follows the original Spanish closely and, in any event, Borges' genius is found not as much in his language as in his concepts, others detest this 1962 version. Andrew Hurley has recently translated all of Borges fictional stories, including FICCIONES, in COLLECTED FICTIONS published by Penguin, but even his translation has sparked new battles. Should one wish to read FICCIONES in English, however, I'd suggest getting this translation. It is less expensive than COLLECTED FICTIONS and contains only Borges' finest work. For those who can read Spanish decently, I'd recommend even obtaining the original language, as Borges' stories do not use vocabulary much outside what one gets after four-years of high school Spanish. While some readers may not "get" Borges (he can be compared to H.P. Lovecraft in possessing great influence on some but total obscurity to others), I'd certainly recommend trying FICCIONES.
Rating:
Summary: THE MASTER OPENS A DOOR...
Review: ...and others have followed, thanks to the ground-breaking work of this Argentinian genius. Borges was right in not allowing these works to be classified as 'short stories' -- he manages to convey more in these brief pieces than most authors can cram into a 1000-page magnum opus. The length of these works is extremely deceptive -- some of them are only 4-6 pages long. If you're unfamiliaar with Borges' work, don't expect to breeze through them as you would conventional short works. These gems are much more demanding and challenging -- and they reward the perseverence of the patient, attentive reader with results that can only be described as jaw-dropping mind expansion. Many of the works have no 'plot' as such -- and as far as setting, most of them could be taking place anywhere. These things are not important -- Borges deals with concepts, thought and language itself. Philosophy is embracced and ridiculed simultaneously, as are pretense, lofty ideals and morality. At his most serious moments, Borges can be more thought-provoking that the 'deepest' philosophical giants -- and there is much gentle, intelligent humor to be found within these pages as well. The work of Jorge Luis Borges is a treasure chest -- when you open it, you will have a lifetime of discovery and rediscovery available to you.
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