Borges - Labyrinths (1641)

W

wild greens

Well-known member
I saw that i had been quoted here and was puzzled as i own this, never finished it, and have nothing to say about the lad really. Prefer Cortozar if we are talking Argentinian writers but hes a bit French as well isnt he

Anyway- I've got no real problems with people ingesting hash really but its just a long old slog isnt it. Big epic stoned marathons, whats the point; there's too much to do in the world to warrant sitting in a stupor for half a day/week

Quick polly one on the beach on a Saturday, sound, but the time for epic contemplation has passed. Too much yoghurt as well
 
sus

sus

Moderator
I feel like I went into it in a very open-minded spirit... but no, it was not good I don't think
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Absolutely no idea if Labyrinth is shit or not, all I remember is being scared by bits of it that I now would laugh openly at
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
in translation?

if so, which?

I was trying to explain to a work colleague that it's only worth reading the pre-death translations because after Luis passed away the child bride / widow commissioned a rubbish guy who completely ruined his legacy....but as executor she got paid
 
M

mvuent

Void Dweller
interesting. looks like my book is mostly Irby—as opposed to Di Giovanni or who you’re talking about, Hurley?
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
too drunk to find the brilliant but damning essay that moves close to libel

but wikipedia to the rescue:

More recently, there has been the reissue of all of his short stories: Collected Fictions, translated by Andrew Hurley. But this new translation, commissioned by his estate after his death, has proved controversial. The battle over Borges's legacy in English has become as Daedalian as one of his faux literary essays. It's hard to know where to begin rereading."[4]

The essayist Alberto Manguel writes in The Guardian that, "since the first American translations of Borges, attempted in the Fifties by well-intentioned admirers such as Donald Yates and James Irby, English-speaking readers have been very poorly served. From the uneven versions collected in Labyrinths to the more meticulous, but ultimately unsuccessful, editions published by Norman Thomas di Giovanni, from Ruth Simm's abominable apery of 'Other Inquisitions' to Paul Bowles's illiterate rendition of 'The Circular Ruins', Borges in English must be read in spite of the translations
Click to expand...

I've got a Calder edition of Fictions, translated by Kerrigan, the definitive versions in English ( in my opinion) , I wasted money on the post-death Hurley translations and they are excreable
 
M

mvuent

Void Dweller
i think it's fair to say that a lot of pop music aspires to be what borges calls a zahir. something you can't get out of your head, until it gradually consumes your entire consciousness. a good example of this would be Miley Cyrus - Prisoner (Official Video) ft. Dua Lipa.



ironically, or as a chilling touch of mockery by reptilians who designed it, the lyrics themselves are also about a zahir...
 
M

mvuent

Void Dweller
berkeley's shadow really looms over the whole collection. although i guess to borges he was just one more "apologist" for idealism in a much older and more vast canon of writers.
 
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