The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis BorgesAuthor: Jorge Luis Borges | Narrator: Alexander Scourby | Running Time: 07:33:50 | MP3 -CBR 96 kbit/s 44100 Hz Mono | 311 MB + 3%
The reputation of Jorge Luis Borges in the United States is astonishing, and less than a decade old. "Labyrinths" and "Ficciones," the first substantial translations of his work, appeared in 1962, one year after he shared the International Publishers' Prize with Beckett; by then he was 63 and well known in his native Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America and Europe (though not in Great Britain). These two volumes were followed by "Dreamtigers" (1964) as well as collections of lesser note.
Several books have now been devoted to him; his conversation is avidly taped and printed; he has served as a visiting professor on several American campuses; and the claim is sometimes heard that he ranks with Joyce and Kafka. This despite the fact that Borges has cultivated a methodical modesty and never departed from the minor genres of essay, story and short poem.
What can this new sampler tell us about the truth of his reputation* It is devoted mainly to the stories, and has a wide chronological range, taking us from 1933 to 1969. But it remains an incomplete gathering,
since rights to retranslate some of the most famous pieces (such as "Tion, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius") could not be obtained. It is irritating to have Borges divided this way by competing anthologies, but it may
be a kind of justice since he is, in fact, a scattered Orpheus whose prose-parts lament a fading power. The inventor of the "Aleph," a miniaturized replica of all visionary experience, knows that human kind cannot bear
much fantasy. The present volume, with its charming "Autobiographical Essay" and its chatty comments on the stories, is well adapted to readers who wish to be reminded of great art rather than to experience it. With
Borges they can flee from too vivid an enchantment into a little wilderness.
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