Labyrinths (New Directions Paperbook)

Product Description The classic by Latin America's finest writer of the twentieth century―a true literary sensation―with an introduction by cyber-author William Gibson. The groundbreaking trans-genre work of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) has been insinuating itself into the structure, stance, and very breath of world literature for well over half a century. Multi-layered, self-referential, elusive, and allusive writing is now frequently labeled Borgesian. Umberto Eco's international bestseller, The Name of the Rose, is, on one level, an elaborate improvisation on Borges' fiction "The Library," which American readers first encountered in the original 1962 New Directions publication of Labyrinths. This new edition of Labyrinths, the classic representative selection of Borges' writing edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby (in translations by themselves and others), includes the text of the original edition (as augmented in 1964) as well as Irby's biographical and critical essay, a poignant tribute by André Maurois, and a chronology of the author's life. Borges enthusiast William Gibson has contributed a new introduction bringing Borges' influence and importance into the twenty-first century. Review "The essays are always lucid and probing, and always slightly skewed, vaguely unsettling, again dislocating your sense of reality and truth. Ultimately it is this that always makes me return to Borges, this ability to make the world seem different …" ― BBC "Borges is arguably the great bridge between modernism and post-modernism in world literature." ― David Foster Wallace, The New York Times "Borges anticipated postmodernism (deconstruction and so on) and picked up credit as founding father of Latin American magical realism." ― Colin Waters, The Washington Times About the Author Jorge Luis Borges (1890-1982), Argentine poet, critic, and short-story writer, revolutionized modern literature. He was completely blind when appointed the head of Argentina’s National Library. William Gibson is a professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford Brookes University. He is also academic director of the Westminster Institute of Education.