Borges, Jorge Luis. Collected Fictions. Trans. by Andrew Hurley. New York: Penguin, 1998.
I think anytime I read too many short stories in a row I tend to want each story to connect to the last. Like a string of pearls, cars of a train. It’s the wrong way to read them, I admit it. The cure for what ails me is to read slowly, digesting each story as if it were a single meal, designed to be eaten without accompaniment. As with any piece of written work, I am struck by phrases. Here is one of my favorites, “…said goodbye to myself in the mirror…” (p. 121). This stuck me not because it is am overly thought provoking statement(it is not), but rather because of it’s comment on society. We stop to stare at our image in the mirror (however critically), but how often do we say anything? I know me, myself & I. We just stare.
Other favorite parts include a short, short paragraph on toenails on p.296 (I thought of my husband for silly reasons) and a story called, ‘Captive’. ‘Captive’ is the story of a young boy who disappeared from home. After many years he is found and returned to his family. While happy to be home he “could not live a life that was hemmed about by walls and one day he went off in search of his wilderness” (p. 300). This all takes place in a handful of lines. Recently I read an article about a Cambodian woman found after 19 years in the wilds. She is having a hard time adjusting to society. Is it any wonder? I love it when fiction comes before reality.
All in all, I enjoyed Borges’s collection. The fact that he is a premier Latin American writer sweetened the deal because I was treated to cultures, ways of thinking, societies beyond these 50 states. In addition, Borges creates stories around Shakespeare, the Odyssey, and Quixote. A real pleasure to digest.
Booklust Twist: Mentioned in Book Lust in a list of Latin American authors (p.145)
Busch, Frederick. Breathing Trouble, and other stories. London: Calder and Boyars. 1973.
