Borges' Short Stories: A Reader's Guide

Description

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges is undoubtedly one of the defining voices of our age. Since the Second World War, his work has had an enormous impact on generations of writers, philosophers, and literary theorists. This guide offers a close reading of ten of Borges' greatest short stories, seeking to bring out the logic that has made his work so influential. The main section of the guide offers an analysis of such key terms in Borges' work as "labyrinth" and the "infinite" and analyzes Borges' particular narrative strategies. This guide also sets Borges' work within its wider literary, cultural and intellectual contexts and provides an annotated guide to both scholarly and popular responses to his work to assist further reading.

Rex Butler is Professor of Art History at the School of Art, Design and Architecture, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. His previous publications include Jean Baudrillard: The Defence of the Real (1999).

'This is the most up-to-date study thus far of Borges's place in contemporary culture. The influence exerted by the Argentine master on literature and criticism stretches far and wide over three continents, and Rex Butler does a fine job of tracing in detail a rich and ongoing legacy.' - Gene H. Bell-Villada, Williams College, USA and author of Borges and His Fiction: A Guide to His Mind and Art