قصة الكتاب :
Ficciones is a collection of short stories written originally in Spanish between the years 1941 – 1956 by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. It was translated into English and published in 1962. Ficciones is the combined name given to two separate works published separately viz. The Garden of Forking Paths containing eight stories and Artifices containing six stories. Three more stories were added to this collection. A reading of these seventeen pieces reveals the nature of Borges’ genius, intellect, skepticism and interest in fantasy. Entering the worlds detailed in the book is an entry into the mind of the author himself. Borges was one of those authors who changed the nature of the short story as an art form. His style has inspired and been imitated by several writers across the world.\r\n
\r\nThe story creations in Ficciones transcend the boundaries of genre and by their sheer brilliance manage to return the short story to the realm of the fabulous, from where it originally came from. Borge’s stories reveal his fascination for philosophy and literature, which can make their comprehension challenging to readers who aren’t familiar with the ideas and references made. Some stories are essentially parodies of the entire exercise of academic endeavour where Borges creates artificial books and schools of thought, and then engages in a deep study of all of them. His writing seems a form of self-exaltation at moments like these, where he is showing off his profound knowledge regarding the various schools of thought which enables him to create one himself merely as an intellectual exercise. His stories themselves are extremely intellectual pieces about ideas and philosophy. Compact yet precise, alluring and fantastical, the stories hint at truths that always seem a bit out of reach. There are continuous references in the stories to one or more books, that appears to frame the language and narrative. The tales as created by Borges seem to be the stuff dreams are made of. \r\n
\r\nThe highlight of Borges’ writing however, is brevity. He manages to pack so much information and complexity into so few words and pages. He echoes this sentiment himself in the introduction when he says, “The composition of vast books is a laborious and impoverishing extravagance. To go on for five-hundred pages developing an idea whose perfect oral exposition is possible in a few minutes! A better course of procedure is to pretend that these books already exist, and then to offer a résumé, a commentary.” It can be re-iterated that, although challenging to comprehend, the reading of this beautiful work of literary art that takes the reader into an original world created by Borges is a fascinating experience.\r\n