Interesting. Imaginative. Readable. Definitely out of the common groove. I like this guy.

The Last Words of Christ the Lord

A friend of my ex-wife’s (it’s not necessary that you know his name or hers), though at the time of his death a committed atheist, was awarded a Doctor of Sacred Theology by an American University after the publication of his biography of the late Pope, which was generally well received, even in Roman Catholic circles.

He was a great frequenter of antiquarian bookshops in Rome, at one of which he encountered and purchased for his future studies a collection of books formerly owned by the subject of his work. In one of these books, he found a photograph of two sentences written in ancient Greek, upon the reverse side of which the late Pope had written a translation in both German and English.

I only know this, because, when he died, my wife’s friend bequested this collection (including the book and the photograph) to her (an otherwise devout believer) in his will, and when she subsequently died, she likewise gave the documents to our son in her will. In fact, it was our son who first drew this photograph to my attention.

As I type these words, I am holding a copy of the photograph (by which I mean that images of both sides of the photo are set out together on the one side of the sheet of paper; I know, because it was I who created this facsimile with my phone camera and some software I had downloaded onto my computer) in my (surgically) gloved hands.

Though I have no knowledge of ancient Greek and cannot verify the Pope’s translation (I leave his translation to trust), what is perhaps more significant is the apparent twist in his translation, for it says “The Last Words of Christ the Lord” and under this heading “Forget me, Father, for I have sinned against you.”

کتاب مجموعه ای از 17 داستان کوتاه هست.کتاب خوبی بود و داستان های زیبایی داشت ...اما بزرگترین مشکل این اثر، حداقل برای من، این بود که کتاب پر بود از اسامی آدم ها ،اسطوره ها و سرزمین های ناشناخته ای که من به سختی اسم بعضی از آنها را شنیده بودم، و چون دائما" باید به پی نوشت ها مراجعه می کردم کمی خسته کننده و حوصله سر بر بود

It is always a pleasure for me to read Borges. So I read with delight each of the short stories in this collection.
Borges, always faithful to his style and magic, transports his reader to extraordinary places to discover fabulous things and stories. He doesn't tell. Borges builds labyrinths.
From the new metaphysics (if you will) to the new detective, to the philosophical but mythological tale, we lose ourselves to find ourselves more intelligent, as Claude Mauriac said.
For Borges, who has always read a lot, everything had steeped in universal literature; each act had explained my research and found an echo. Each being has a literary or mythological double. Nothing had written randomly in Borges' short stories; each sentence is essential in the construction. Thirsty for knowledge and discovery, Borges pursues his search for the absolute, the ultimate, the whole, which brings together all universe's experiences, places, and objects, of the sentence which sums up the entire mystery of existence. For him, the world is an unfathomable labyrinth, which keeps its secrets, and every man represents all men in a game of symmetries.
One of the short stories, "The Abode of Asterion," curiously reminded me of a chapter in "Praise of the Stepmother" by Vargas Llosa where the narrator is a monster which is "Head I," painted by Francis Bacon. The two characters are monsters inspired by paintings and mythology, naive, sympathetic, and pathetic.

Чудесный сборник фантастических рассказов с глубоким философским смыслом, многие из рассказов посвящены дуальности в той или иной ипостаси. Писать рецензии на сборники сложно, поскольку у каждого рассказа свой сюжет, свои достоинства, какие-то спорные вопросы или проблематика. Безусловно, гениальным является рассказ «Бессмертные», по которым я напишу отдельную рецензию.
Алеф
Этот рассказ, давший название сборнику, помещен в самый конец, но он самый необычный. Он о том, что некая точка в пространстве (в данном случае в подвале героя) способен вместить в себя всю вселенную за счет того, что в ней сходятся все остальные точки. Несмотря на пережитый опыт созерцания вселенной через эту точку, автор самым парадоксальным образом сообщает, что этот Алеф ненастоящий, а настоящий в одной из мечетей Каира.

Богословы.
История представляет собой замкнутый круг. Оба богослова Аврелиан и Иоанн Паннонский умерли одной смертью – сожжением, только Иоанн Паннонский по искусному навету Аврелиана, а Аврелиан – от молнии. В раю Аврелиан узнал, что "для непостижимого божества он и Иоанн Паннонский (ортодокс и еретик, ненавидящий и ненавидимый, обвинитель и жертва) были одной и той же личностью."

История воина и пленницы
Светловолосая индеянка, урожденная в Йоркшире, и бабушка Борхеса, тоже родом из Англии, варвар Дроктульф принял сторону Равенны сродни той англичанки, ставшей женой индейского вождя. Борхес заключает, что возможно обе пересказанные истории – на самом деле одна. Орел и решка этой монеты для Господа неотличимы.

Биография Тадео Исидора Круса
О том, как пес из стаи встал на сторону волка-одиночки

Эмма Цунц
О том, как можно отомстить убийце своего отца и выйти сухой из воды, при этом только имена будут ненастоящими, а неподдельными будут и позор, и голос.

بورخس خواندن به حد كافي دشوار هست و نوشتنش به مراتب دشوارتر .
من بورخس رو دوست دارم از اين جهت كه اتاق كوچيكي رو خلق ميكنه براي گم شدن،اتاقي كه ديوارهايي داره پر از نقاشي،عكس هاي يادگاري و نقشه ي شهرهايي كه نميدونم كجا هستند.
اتاقي كه حتي مطمئن نيستم وجود داره يا جوري طراحي شده كه كه منِ خواننده رو قانع كنه كه وجود داره !
بورخس رو دوست دارم از اين جهت كه كلي حرف، مفهوم و معما رو به فشرده ترين شكل ممكن تبديل ميكنه به يك مكعب اندازه ي حبه ي قند ولي به سنگيني و محكمي آهن.
و در نهايت بورخس رو دوست دارم چونكه كلي داستان داره براي تعريف كردن،ولي با گويش خاص خودش كه لزوماً نيازي نيست اين گويش رو بلد باشم براي فهميدنش.

Come in Finzioni, ogni racconto (17 in tutto), in poche pagine densissime, ti fa partecipe di un’erudizione fascinosa, ti fa viaggiare per il mondo in epoche diverse (America del sud, Oriente, Spagna, ed anche la mia Romagna!), apre porte su mondi magici, misteriosi, senza tempo o sospesi nel tempo, che ti si stampano nella mente e non ti abbandonano.

I temi di Borges ci sono tutti, il labirinto come metafora della complessità del reale, l’illusorietà di cercare di comprendere fino in fondo e dare ordine a tale complessità, il peso del caso nei nostri destini, talvolta decisi nell’impulso di una scelta, di un’azione, la ricerca di un’identità personale e la scoperta di doppie o triple identità, le simmetrie e ripezioni della storia e delle storie.

Ne ’L’Immortale” viaggiamo con un militare romano (che forse è un antiquario londinese, che forse è Omero) nella città distopica degli immortali. Il longobardo Droctulft che passo dalla parte dei bizantini e la bionda inglese che visse con gli indios sono le storie parallele de “La storia del guerriero e della prigioniera”. Ne “La casa di Asterione” un minotauro freak ci guida nel suo labirinto e ci fa quasi intenerire. In "Deutsches Requiem" ascoltiamo le ultime confessioni e giustificazioni di un aguzzino nazista. Il filosofo islamico Averroè nella sua Cordoba è alle prese con la traduzione e interpretazione di Aristotele (“La ricerca di Averroè”). Il mago della piramide di Qaholom, incarcerato dai conquistatori spagnoli, in una buia prigione ed in compagnia di un giaguaro, apprenderà la formula magica del potere e della conoscenza assoluta (“La scrittura del Dio”). In “Abenkhachan il Bokharì morto nel suo labirinto” ci sono un re medio orientale in fuga dal proprio regno, suo cugino ed un servo, e ci perderemo con loro nel labirinto non sapendo più chi è chi. Nella casa dell’amata Beatriz troviamo “L’Aleph”, la conoscenza piena dell’intero cosmo...forse.

Questo per citare solo alcuni racconti, non so se i migliori, difficile scegliere.

“L'incandescente mattina di febbraio in cui Beatriz Viterbo mori, dopo un'imperiosa agonia che non si abbassò un solo istante al sentimentalismo né al timore, notai che le armature di ferro di piazza della Costituzione avevano cambiato non so quale avviso di sigarette; il fatto mi dolse, perché compresi che l'incessante e vasto universo già si separava da lei e che quel mutamento era il primo d'una serie infinita.” Dal racconto “L’Aleph”.



Dal fondamentale commento di Tommaso Scarano (in postfazione alla versione Adelphi):
“Le opere di Borges (come i racconti di questa raccolta) «ripetono una trama / eterna e fragile, misteriosa e chiara», al cui centro è sempre l'uomo e il mistero della sua esistenza e della sua morte, l'uomo con le sue angosce, il suo dolore, le sue sconfitte, le sue contraddizioni, il suo sentimento di solitudine e di inutilità, il suo destino tragico o patetico.”

Me cuesta entrar y valorar en su justa medida los relatos cortos, y bueno, estas han sido, no se si justas, al menos es el valor que yo le he dado a estos relatos:
-El inmortal 7.5/10 (al final ha sido el relato que mas me gustó).
-El muerto 6/10.
-Los teólogos 2/10.
-Historia del guerrero y la cautiva 5.5/10.
-Biografía de Tadeo Isidoro Cruz 6/10.
-Emma Zunz 6.5/10.
-La casa de Asterion 5.5/10.
-La otra muerte 5.5/10.
-Deutsches réquiem 5.75/10.
-La búsqueda de Averroes 4/10
-El Zahir 5/10.
-La escritura de Dios 5.5/10
-Abenjacán el Bojarí, muerto en su laberinto 6.5/10
-Los dos reyes y los dos laberintos 5/10
-La espera 5.5/10
-El hombre en el umbral 6/10
-El Aleph 5.5/10
Valoración: 5.5/10
# 8. Un libro escrito por un autor ciego o con problemas visuales. Reto Popsugar 2024.

Sinopsis: Este volumen reúne dieciocho relatos de Jorge Luis Borges, entre ellos quizá los más elogiados y repetidamente citados. Tanto «El inmortal» como «Los teólogos», «Deutsches Requiem» y «La espera» muestran las posibilidades expresivas de la «estética de la inteligencia» borgiana, inimitable fusión de mentalidad matemática, profundidad metafísica y captación poética del mundo.

You're avoiding a single star, Borges, simply because I try my best not to dish them out. There's little value in reading if one is going to try consider ways to dislike doing it. I love your ideas, but not your executions. Reading through the contents list, I can easily choose five or six stories whose very conception alone excite me(The Immortal, The Zahir, The Writing of The God, The House of Asterion), but you continually bashed me over the head with names, places, dates, literary and historical allusions(all of which I recognise as necessary to legitimise a story's authenticity), but I simply wanted a story, not a reference manual. It would have been fine had the stories been chunkier, but when I have five or more consecutive lines of undiluted information being dunked into me, I'm more than likely going to have to return to the beginning of the sentence to remind myself what it was originally about. To my mind it seems the reason you didn't get that award from the guys in Sweden was because you simply tried much too hard to get it. But I'll give you the respect you clearly deserve by putting you back in my bookshelf where you sat before, instead of throwing you with the scrapheap in the corner.

«Ma non ho soltanto immaginato giuochi; ho anche meditato sulla casa. Tutte le parti della casa si ripetono, qualunque luogo di essa è un altro luogo. Non ci sono una cisterna, un cortile, una fontana, una stalla; sono infinite le stalle, le fontane, i cortili, le cisterne.»

Non manca molto al trentennale della prima lettura, eppure ricordo ancora dove ero, in che posizione stavo mentre leggevo, la sensazione di vedere spalancarsi stanze nella mia testa, il desiderio e la vertigine di attraversale tutte.

ENGLISH (The Aleph and Other Stories) / ITALIANO

"On the burning February morning Beatriz Viterbo died, after braving an agony that never for a single moment gave way to self-pity or fear, I noticed that the sidewalk billboards around Constitution Plaza were advertising some new brand or other of American cigarettes; the fact pained me, for I realised that the wide and ceaseless universe was already slipping away from her and that this slight change was the first of an endless series."

17 mystery stories trying to evoke ancient and suggestive images. Some of them succeed at this: I appreciated The Aleph (which gives its name to the entire collection), The Immortal, The Dead Man, The Theologians. However, I had trouble to follow the flow of other stories, without any charm, like Averroes's Search. Having also read The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory with similar outcomes, I think I should stop here with Jorge Luis Borges.

Vote: 7

n  n

"L’incandescente mattina di febbraio in cui Beatriz Viterbo morì, dopo un’imperiosa agonia che non si abbassò un solo istante al sentimentalismo né al timore, notai che le armature di ferro di piazza della Costituzione avevano cambiato non so quale avviso di sigarette; il fatto mi dolse, perché compresi che l’incessante e vasto universo già si separava da lei e che quel mutamento era il primo di una serie infinita."

17 storie del mistero, che cercano di evocare immagini antiche e suggestive. Alcuni racconti riescono nell'intento: ho apprezzato L'Aleph (che dà nome all'intera raccolta), L'Immortale, Il Morto, I Teologi. Altri racconti invece ho faticato a seguirli ed a "farmi suggestionare", come ad esempio La Ricerca di Averroè. Avendo già letto con esiti simili Il Libro della Sabbia, credo di fermarmi qui con Jorge Luis Borges.

Voto: 7

-Diferente, interesante, atractivo y generador de tendencias incluso en la actualidad.-

Género. Relatos.

Lo que nos cuenta. Recopilación de relatos (el autor prefería la palabra cuentos, así que respetemos eso) de Borges, que nos llevarán desde el hallazgo de un objeto increíble hasta conocer los recuerdos de un inmortal, pasando por los pensamientos de un peculiar protagonista en su todavía más peculiar hogar o un juicio en el Punjab, entre otras tramas.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...