'To ward off total despair, he resolved to think about the Universe
- a general procedure among the unfortunate, and sometimes a balm.'
These words appear in one of Borges' 'capsule biographies', in this
case of Benedetto Croce, but he could easily have been writing
about himself. As this fascinating anthology attests, Borges did
'think about the universe'. The essays, articles, reviews and
lectures here - only a fraction of his entire output - discuss
Zeno's paradox, the art of verbal insults, the nature of hell,
Bette Davis, world languages, dubbing (he's against it), Dante, the
different translations of Homer, Buddhism, a history of the tango,
Shakespeare, the detective story and a great deal more. A glance at
the useful index will tell you how much more. Borges has
interesting opinions about everything and everyone, and reading
this book is rather like listening to a very intelligent, erudite,
amusing, but never patronizing companion. When he needed money,
Borges began writing regular articles and reviews for El Hogar, the
Argentinian equivalent of The Ladies' Home Journal, but he never
talked down to his readership. He was excited by ideas, by
literature, by film and he wanted to share that excitement with
others. He has as much time for S S Van Dine, a writer of detective
fiction, as for T S Eliot and Virginia Woolf. Borges was criticized
for what was perceived as his political conservatism at the time of
the military regime in Argentina. However, one has only to read his
essay about Fascism and anti-semitism in his native Argentina and
in Hitler's Germany to forgive him that lapse. Before he became
famous in the West, Borges was so shy that on the rare occasions
when he was asked to lecture, he would have someone else read the
lecture, while he sat at the back of the stage. However, in the
last 30 years of his life, when he became recognized as one the
most remarkable fiction writers of the 20th century, Borges was
invited all over the world and, shedding his shyness, he gave not
lectures, but marvellous spontaneous monologues on all kinds of
subjects. Some of these gems are included in this intelligent,
humane and witty collection, lucidly translated by Allen, Levine
and Weinberger. (Kirkus UK)
Though best known in the English speaking world for his short fictions and poems, Borges is revered in Latin America equally as an immensely prolific and beguiling writer of non-fiction prose. In The Total Library, more than 150 of Borges' most brilliant pieces are brought together for the first time in one volume - all in superb new translations. More than a hundred of the pieces have never previously been published in English. The Total Library presents Borges at once as a deceptively self-effacing guide to the universe and as the inventor of a universe that is an indispensible guide to Borges.
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