The Crystal Frontier
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • An Underwhelming Brew
  • A Fragile Crystal
  • A ROLL OF THE EYES
  • Insights from the Outsider
  • A modern look at the polarized lives on the border
The Crystal Frontier
Carlos Fuentes
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
LiteraryLiterary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Latin AmericanLatin American | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0156006200

Book Description

From Mexico’s preeminent man of letters, “a Balzacian novel in nine masterly stories” (Vanity Fair) that explores the “uneven and painful meshing of two North american cultures” (Washington Post Book World). A New York Times Notable Book of the Year. A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. Translated by Alfred Mac Adam.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars An Underwhelming Brew.......2006-07-20

Whenever I travel to a country, I like to take along some fiction written by someone from that country to read while I'm there. So, for my first trip to Mexico, Fuentes seemed like the logical choice, and since I tend to enjoy short stories, this "novel in nine stories" seemed to fit the bill. However, for the most part, I found it both thematically and stylistically underwhelming, rather tedious, and it didn't give me any new insights into the dynamic and complex relationship between the U.S. and Mexico. The nine pieces are very tangentially connected to Don Leonardo, a rather generic shady, wealthy Mexican businessman who exists at one end of the socioeconomic spectrum. He's able to move easily across the "crystal frontier" between Mexico and the U.S. -- whether by flying first class to New York or being chauffeured to El Paso in his Mercedes.

In "A Capital Girl", a beautiful girl from Mexico City with few prospects finds security with her godfather Don Leonardo, and although she marries his son, she becomes the old man's mistress. Surely this is allegorical, although I'm not quite sure what to make of it. In "Spoils", Juan Zamora is able to attend Cornell Medical School through the machinations of Don Leonardo. While there, he explores his homosexuality and unable to reconcile his identity, flees back home. "Spoils" is in some ways the most fantastical and enjoyable of the stories, as an eminent Mexican food critic sits discovers a Mexican genie in a bottle of salsa. However, it's simultaneously a tediously diatribe against American food (which I'm not particularly a fan of either) which gets all too shrill.

"The Line of Oblivion" is an ineffective rambling stream of consciousness monologue from a wheelchair-bound old man at a border protest. "Malintzin of the Maquilas" is probably my favorite segment of the whole book, as it is the most direct and apparently "realistic" of the lot. It follows a young woman who works in a border factory assembling television sets, and her relationships with several coworkers and a feckless boyfriend. It's more compelling than the others because the socioeconomic themes feel more at home in this particular setting, with these characters. Unfortunately, it's also marred somewhat by a predictable (and unnecessary) bit of melodrama at the end.

"Las Amigas" is simply a terrible story about the relationship between a very wealthy and a very racist elderly Chicago woman and her Mexican maid. It's really, really bad, but not quite as ridiculous as the title story, "The Crystal Frontier". This is about a hardworking, solid Mexican man forced to take a job as a contract window washer in New York in order to earn a living. There, he experiences an incredibly cheezy moment of "connection" with a typical American businesswoman who's working over the weekend. They kiss through the glass -- it's so awful it beggars belief. "The Bet" stands a little removed from the rest of the book, as it chronicles the relationship between a Mexican tour guide and a Spanish woman he meets and falls for, while also telling of a time from the past when he and his friends used to pick on the town's simpleton. The final story, "Rio Grande, Rio Bravo" attempts to bring together the book's themes (and some of the characters) in a climactic nighttime border crossing but collapses in ridiculous bloodbath involving neo-Nazi skinhead bikers!

My main disappointment with this book is that I didn't feel like I learned anything or gained any perspective. The storytelling is pretty awkward for the most part, and the translated prose felt affected and pretentiously overwritten. There are some interesting characters who are brought to life (at least on the Mexican side, every single Anglo in the book is either an out and out racist or subconsciously prejudicial), but the situations there are put in are often too artificial. The next time I look for a book my a Mexican writer, I think I'll try and find something by someone much younger and closer to the ground -- despite the evident good intentions there's an air about Fuentes' writing which makes him seem utterly removed from the plight of people he's trying to write about in most of these stories.

2 out of 5 stars A Fragile Crystal.......2002-08-15

Carlos Fuentes is a major author in Mexican literature, with notable successes in history and fiction. In this book of 266 pages, he introduces us to the lives of a spectrum of persons living on both sides of the Mexican Border, particularly with Texas. He speaks with authority about the historical injustices involved in the American conquest of Texas, the War on Mexico, and our continuing hostile dependency on each other. The Americans need cheap labor and the Mexicans need jobs. In nine vignettes (chapters), he gives us a glimpse into the lives of various persons on both sides of the border. The Mexicans come North to go to school legally or to do menial work illegally or legally. The message in this book is quite clear. We want the Mexicans when we need them to do tasks cheaply that our own labor force will not do. We do not want the Mexicans when they become dependent on us and stress our social system for such things as health care or education. Carlos Fuentes points to the type of economic slavery that this creates, not much better than the era of slavery which Abraham Lincoln fought against. Fuentes achieves some balance in showing also the internal corruption of Mexico, and the many ways that they miss opportunities to improve themselves. The vignettes are funny, sad, passionate, and sometimes lacking in clear focus. Some characters fade into and out of various chapters creating a fabric of impressions about the life on the border. The reader has to relax and let the images flow past, with the poetic inserts by Fuentes about the various conflicts. This is clearly not his best book but in some ways it perhaps reveals more of his own most heartfelt conflicts which accumulated while he spent many years as a child and young adult in the USA. It is a particularly good book to read while you are traveling near the Mexican border and can get your own impressions of this SCENE.

1 out of 5 stars A ROLL OF THE EYES.......2002-06-30

Anytime you write a bunch of short stories and try to thread them together with a cameo of characters from previous stories you're going to get into trouble. Because that's what it ends up being. A bunch of short stories that is said to comprise a "novel". It's hard to remember who's who from one story to the next because you've only been exposed to the characters for a short glimpse.

"The Crystal Frontier" is an unimaginative attempt at metaphor concocted by Fuentes to symbolize the frontier between Mexico and the United States. That boundary is not only the physical presence of the Rio Grande River but also of the differences between cultures.

The character that threads the stories together is a powerful Mexican businessman named Leonardo Barroso whose main export to America is cheap labor. He is introduced in the first story, called "A Capital Girl" in which he sets up his bookish son to be married to a beautiful girl. He also sets her up to be his mistress. Like a demented Amelie, Leonardo has a direct or indirect impact on all the short stories that follow. I guess it has something in common with chaos theory, but instead of a butterfly causing a hurricane, here we have a money grubbing exploitive Enron type affecting lives that he knows nothing about.

A few of the earlier stories are interesting and good. "Pain" is about a doomed love affair between two medical students, one of which got a scholarship from Leonardo. "Spoils" was a great story about a famous food critic and chef who offers his philsophy of why America is obese. It is also in that story that the book starts to destroy itself for me. Fuentes starts coming in through his characters about how America stole half of Mexico and about how we are inferior to the europeans in culture. It is in this story that Americans begin to be stereotyped as ruthless buzzards that are eating off the flesh of Mexico. I won't get into a rant just yet.

The rest of the stories in the "novel" run the gamut from average to poor and some are just downright an affront to the intellegence of a brain dead squirrel and are unreadable. Two of the most awful are the short story the book was named for, "The Crystal Frontier" and the last story in here, called "Rio Grande, Rio Bravo". "Frontier" is about a Mexican who is a complete failure in his hometown who is contracted to work in New York. His work is to clean the windows of an immense glass skycraper. While he is cleaning he notices a woman working, not knowing that she's there on a Saturday to get away from her domestic problems. There's this whole big moment where they basically fall in love just looking at each other straight out of a harlequin novel. It was just so cliched and awful.

For sheer Ed Wood sorriness "Rio Grande" takes the cake. All the characters in the earlier stories are brought together in an episode centering on an illegal crossing of Mexicans into Texas. Here we have the cliched white border guard who never goes out in the sun because he's afraid of tanning and showing the darkness inherit in his genes and who is sort of a closet Adolph Hitler. We have his subordinate, an American of Mexican descent, who is in a cliched scene where he confronts an illegal alien and is engrossed in a loving hug with him. Let's not forget the arrival of a Nazi skinhead motorcycle gang who proceed to slaughter the Mexicans right on cue. Oh boy. The horror. The horror. This book is so ludicrous it makes me sick. Oh, it is also interspersed with a Neruda-wannabe poem recounting Mexico's history.

I will soon be donating this book to my local library. Fuentes' prose is overblown and pompous. He tries so hard to be a poet but it can never be. It says on the back of the jacket that he is Mexico's greatest novelist. I weep for Mexico. I agree that America takes advantage of Mexico but Mexico also takes advantage of us. It's a cycle that has benefits and drawbacks but I think both countries ignore the problems. Sometimes I don't understand why Mexico has never been able to get its act together and why there even has to be the problems we have. Fuentes seems to place most if not all the responsibility on the US. He does place some blame on Mexico itself when he states that "whoever said Mexicans have the right to be well-governed?"
Obviously he likes the politics in his country enough to be an ambassador to France for it. And I have a lot of suspicion for a man who "champions the poor" when he divides his time between Mexico City and London. It must be rough trying to get by on the little amount of money he makes.

5 out of 5 stars Insights from the Outsider.......2002-01-22

Fuentes does not bridge the gap between two colossal cultures, he defines that gap. As a gringo in his own country Mexico, and a foreigner in the US, he is qualified and capable to draw a honest and sensitive picture of these two countries and its characters. He uses the physical divide to draw a picture of what really matters to him - the poverty and impasse existence of myriads of people in Mexico. Luckily, there is only a hint of his (far leftist) politics, and we are allowed to enjoy his cultural insight, deep understanding of characters, compassion for suffering, and sense of humor. A powerful author, but short of the genius of friend and peer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

5 out of 5 stars A modern look at the polarized lives on the border.......2001-08-16

A fascinating look from numerous perspectives at the increasingly intermingled Mexican and U.S. frontier. The short stories range from life in the oppressive border factories pumping out goods for America to the lives of those who control this commerce, to workers entering the U.S. for menial jobs, both with a visa in relative comfort and with nothing to lose in the deserts along the Rio Grande. This book is ten times more informative, realistic, and well-written than most of the works shoved down a student's throat in any type of ethnic literature or sociology course concerning these issues. Highly recommended book by Latin America's most overlooked great author, Carlos Fuentes.
Frontiers in Crystal Engineering
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    Frontiers in Crystal Engineering

    Manufacturer: Wiley
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

    CrystallographyCrystallography | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
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    ASIN: 0470022582

    Book Description

    Crystal engineering - where the myriad of intermolecular forces operating in the solid-state are employed to design new nano- and functional materials - is a key new technology with implications for catalysis, pharmaceuticals, synthesis and materials science.

    Frontiers in Crystal Engineering gathers personal perspectives, from international specialists working in molecular aspects of crystal engineering, on the practical and theoretical challenges of the discipline, and future prospects. These demonstrate the approaches that are being used to tackle the problems associated with the complexity, design and functionality of crystalline molecular solids.

    Topics include
    * how intermolecular forces direct and sustain crystal structures
    * functional engineering and design elements
    * coordination polymers and network structures
    * applications in green and pharmaceutical chemistry

    Frontiers in Crystal Engineering is a useful guide to this exciting new discipline for both entrants to the field as well as established practitioners, and for those working in crystallography, medicinal and pharmaceutical sciences, solid-state chemistry, and materials and nanotechnology.
    The anharmonic crystal (Frontiers in physics)
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      The anharmonic crystal (Frontiers in physics)
      Philippe Choquard
      Manufacturer: W. A. Benjamin
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Unknown Binding

      CrystallographyCrystallography | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: B0006BS0J6
      Crystal Frontier: A Novel In Nine Stories
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        Crystal Frontier: A Novel In Nine Stories
        Carlos Fuentes
        Manufacturer: BLOOMSBURY
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover
        ASIN: B000OLMU12
        Crystal Optics and Additional Light Waves (Frontiers in physics)
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          Crystal Optics and Additional Light Waves (Frontiers in physics)
          S.I. Pekar
          Manufacturer: Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Co.,Subs. of Addison Wesley Longman,US
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

          CrystallographyCrystallography | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
          OpticsOptics | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books
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          ASIN: 0805369457
          Excitons in molecular crystals;: Theory and applications (Frontiers in chemistry)
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            Excitons in molecular crystals;: Theory and applications (Frontiers in chemistry)
            David Parker Craig
            Manufacturer: Benjamin
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Unknown Binding

            GeneralGeneral | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books
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            ASIN: B0006BVKKC
            Ferroelectrics, Vol. 1 (Stefan University Press Series on Frontiers in Science and Technology)
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              Ferroelectrics, Vol. 1 (Stefan University Press Series on Frontiers in Science and Technology)

              Manufacturer: Stefan Univ Pr
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Paperback

              CrystallographyCrystallography | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
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              ASIN: 1889545287

              Book Description

              This Volume contains in-depth presentations.
              Fronteras De cristal- Crystal Frontiers
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                Fronteras De cristal- Crystal Frontiers

                Manufacturer: Edetorial Agata
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Paperback

                SpanishSpanish | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                ASIN: B000BO252Q

                Product Description

                This bilingual book (with both Spanish and English text) is a collaboration of two artists: Lisa Rivas and Patricia Medina. Ms. Rivas paints beautiful images. Ms. Medina writes beautiful poetry. Medina creatively expresses in words that which Rivas has expressed with painted pictures. "The joining of two conciousnesses and two sensibilities. The frontiers of creative imagination are crystalline. . ."
                Frontiers of Ferroelectricity
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                  Frontiers of Ferroelectricity
                  Sidney B. Lang , and Helen L.W. Chan
                  Manufacturer: Springer
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Hardcover

                  GeneralGeneral | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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                  ASIN: 038738037X

                  Product Description

                  The book presents theory, fundamentals and some applications of ferroelectricy. The 24 chapters comprise reviews and research reports covering the spectrum of ferroelectricity. It is intended to describe the current levels of understanding of various aspects of ferroelectricity as presented by authorities in the field. Topics include relaxors, piezoelectrics, microscale and nanoscale studies, polymers and composites, unusual properties, and techniques and devices. The information in this book is intended for physicists, engineers and materials scientists working with ferroelectric materials including ceramics, single crystals, polymers, composites and even some biological materials.

                  The golden free land: The reminiscences and letters of women on an American frontier
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                    The golden free land: The reminiscences and letters of women on an American frontier
                    Crystal Sasse Ragsdale
                    Manufacturer: Landmark Press
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Unknown Binding

                    GeneralGeneral | 19th Century | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
                    TexasTexas | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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                    ASIN: B0006WIN0Q

                    Ficciones (English Translation)
                    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
                    • Borges is the original Neo (The Matrix)
                    • An ingenious labyrinthine narrative....
                    • An Antti Keisala Comment: Encyclopaedias, Or, Change The Way We Live
                    • So much more
                    • Sublime Ideas
                    Ficciones (English Translation)
                    Jorge Luis Borges
                    Manufacturer: Grove Press
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Paperback

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                    Borges, Jorge LuisBorges, Jorge Luis | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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                    Amazon.com

                    Reading Jorge Luis Borges is an experience akin to having the top of one's head removed for repairs. First comes the unfamiliar breeze tickling your cerebral cortex; then disorientation, even mild discomfort; and finally, the sense that the world has been irrevocably altered--and in this case, rendered infinitely more complex. First published in 1945, his Ficciones compressed several centuries' worth of philosophy and poetry into 17 tiny, unclassifiable pieces of prose. He offered up diabolical tigers, imaginary encyclopedias, ontological detective stories, and scholarly commentaries on nonexistent books, and in the process exploded all previous notions of genre. Would any of David Foster Wallace's famous footnotes be possible without Borges? Or, for that matter, the syntactical games of Perec, the metafictional pastiche of Calvino? For good or for ill, the blind Argentinian paved the way for a generation's worth of postmodern monkey business--and fiction will never be simply "fiction" again.

                    Its enormous influence on writers aside, Ficciones has also--perhaps more importantly--changed the way that we read. Borges's Pierre Menard, for instance, undertakes the most audacious project imaginable: to create not a contemporary version of Cervantes's most famous work but the Quixote itself, word for word. This second text is "verbally identical" to the original, yet, because of its new associations, "infinitely richer"; every time we read, he suggests, we are in effect creating an entirely new text, simply by viewing it through the distorting lens of history. "A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships," Borges once wrote in an essay about George Bernard Shaw. "All men who repeat one line of Shakespeare are William Shakespeare," he tells us in "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." In this spirit, Borges is not above impersonating, even quoting, himself.

                    It is hard, exactly, to say what all of this means, at least in any of the usual ways. Borges wrote not with an ideological agenda, but with a kind of radical philosophical playfulness. Labyrinths, libraries, lotteries, doubles, dreams, mirrors, heresiarchs: these are the tokens with which he plays his ontological games. In the end, ideas themselves are less important to him than their aesthetic and imaginative possibilities. Like the idealist philosophers of Tlön, Borges does not "seek for the truth or even for verisimilitude, but rather for the astounding"; for him as for them, "metaphysics is a branch of fantastic literature." --Mary Park

                    Book Description

                    The seventeen pieces in Ficciones demonstrate the gargantuan powers of imagination, intelligence, and style of one of the greatest writers of this or any other century. Borges sends us on a journey into a compelling, bizarre, and profoundly resonant realm; we enter the fearful sphere of Pascal's abyss, the surreal and literal labyrinth of books, and the iconography of eternal return. More playful and approachable than the fictions themselves are Borges's Prologues, brief elucidations that offer the uninitiated a passageway into the whirlwind of Borges's genius and mirror the precision and potency of his intellect and inventiveness, his piercing irony, his skepticism, and his obsession with fantasy. For to enter the worlds in Ficciones is to enter the mind of Jorge Luis Borges, wherein lie Heaven, Hell, and everything in between.

                    Customer Reviews:

                    5 out of 5 stars Borges is the original Neo (The Matrix).......2007-06-26

                    Transport the Wachowski brothers to the 1930's and ask them to express their philosophy by way of short stories. You might get something in the same ballpark as Ficciones. The diversity and genius of Borges' work is so unique that if you were to know all the languages in the world and had no word limit, it would still be hard to do a review that does justice. Ironically, this is exactly the kind of challenge that Borges would stand up to. I will attempt to review this work by enlisting adjectives that come to mind.

                    Surreal, mystic, recursive, sophistic, heretical, philosophical, religious, profound, imaginative, ingenious, circular, open-ended, unorthodox, personal, hallucinational, original, universal, self-referential, concise, contextual, complex, ironic.

                    Here are a few examples of the complexity of Borges' mind at work.

                    Borges attributes certain imaginary books and volumes of books to some of the authors that he is most influenced by. In reality, these books are projections of Borges' fertile mind and no more. In the process of critiquing imaginary works of art (let's call this meta-art), he creates an instance of the meta-art in the mind of the reader. It's like me talking to you about the eating habits of a third person you haven't met, and actually does not exist! Borges never fails to leave you with a lasting impression of a meta-art that resonates with your senses. On second thoughts, this is obvious because the meta-art is as much a figment of your imagination as it is Borges'. Every meta-art is a reflection of your own creative mind, while Borges is simply holding a mirror. And talking about mirrors, here's a quote from Borges as attributed by him to the meta-art in his first short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius": "The earth we inhabit is an error, an incompetent parody. Mirrors and paternity are abominable because they multiply and affirm it." And with this we come full circle just like you would in most of Borges' stories.

                    Borges is fascinated with the idea of god and provides several unorthodox notions of god that might be as appealing to scientists as they would to priests. This is done more so by illustration than by elucidation. In fact, subtle self-references and recursions are an integral part of the entire work. The stories embody the concept that Borges sets out to illustrate, and always come full circle at the end such that appreciating the story is equivalent to appreciating the concept. Whether it is the wizard of "The Circular Ruins", the librarian of "The Library of Babel", the spy of "The Garden of Forking Paths", the teenage boy of "Funes the Memorious", or the playwright of "The Secret Miracle"; the self-referential nature of the work is haunting. Each story leaves you wondering how Borges could convey so much with so little words [This also speaks volumes about the quality of English translation]. Then again, the very topic of brevity and excessiveness is discussed in one of the reviews of a fictional book. It is like Borges does not let anything go. Yet again, the very topic of an all-encompassing book is discussed in the context of a fictional book that aspires to BE god.

                    There was not a single story of the seventeen that was not profound. There is no chance that you would not re-read this book after reading it once.

                    5 out of 5 stars An ingenious labyrinthine narrative...........2007-06-20

                    Borges never fails to please, to challenge, to entertain, and more importantly make one's brain shift into high gear!
                    If you are looking for an easy read, don't expect to find it in Ficciones.

                    However, if you are looking for a little cerebral cortex arousal; grab this book and find a cozy spot...you won't be disappointed!

                    Reading with his head instead of his heart, Borges looks to fill his mind with all the minutia and information he can possibly hold and release it back in his works with finely crafted and fascinatingly playful philosophical stories.

                    The sparse, objective writing of Ficciones is a far cry from his earlier lyrical style, of which he says: "In those days, I sought dusk, the outskirts, and unhappiness; now, mornings, the center, and serenity."

                    Thankfully in the newer center, we are treated to 17 extraordinary stories that are teasingly succinct, yet brimming with imaginative and aesthetic prose!

                    The scarcity of words requires that the reader pay attention to them all or miss much of the wisdom and subtleness that define the delicate and ingenious style that is this fine master of fiction...Jorge Luis Borges!

                    5 out of 5 stars An Antti Keisala Comment: Encyclopaedias, Or, Change The Way We Live.......2007-04-12

                    Borges is one of the great literary giants of the 20th century, a statement that in itself appears as a graveyard of a word; that his influence is comparable to that of Joyce, Proust and Beckett. I would another name to that list, that of Georges Perec, a French novelist most famous for his works "Void" and "Life, A User's Manual".

                    I am no authority in much of anything, so I'd advice you find and read as much Borges as you can, but I've found that this collection is a fitting place whence to start and end endeavours of life. Literature works as a way of shaping not only our imagination but expounding our sense of self; this is a phenomenon that does not exclude anyone: most of the time it is merely unconscious as we hone endless miles through the seas of matter, of influence. Reading the great masters not only takes us to the root of what has been shaping and influencing the most intelligent and worthy art created, this reading gives us tools of becoming a self-conscious human being.

                    But read these stories for fun if you're not a self-confessed pretentious bohemian like me. I do, too, yet for me the other half of the fun is to dwell in the experience and shape an abstractly spatial being of it, place it into my mind as a station between different poles of my being. I theorize because I don't know any better. I keep returning to this book time and again, and to his poems, in themselves undertakings of a genius mind to create a new world, a function which any work of art should consciously yet as lucidly as possible promote. Each of the stories is a labyrinth for the mind, a whole microcosm of wordplays, mirrors, riddles, puzzles, mazes, doubles, self-reflection, catalogues and everything from between. A whole literary life being constructed in these short stories, much in the same way as a word-to-word memorization of a Cervantes. As with that book, everything that we experience in fiction, that feels the same has changed forever.

                    With best regards,
                    AK

                    5 out of 5 stars So much more.......2007-04-04

                    My knowledge of Borges is small; before purchasing Ficciones I had only read two or three of his short stories. Enough, however, to know that it would be well worth the short time it takes to read each of these stories.

                    Borges had an unusual and amazing way of compressing the most stimulating, fascinating material into a small number of pages. You may read one of his stories in ten-fifteen minutes and contemplate it for a week (or more) and remember it for life. And still, you may well want to reread it many times; it has happened more than once that upon finishing a Borges short I immediately wanted to go back and start from the beginning.

                    The strange thoughts on infinity and the nature of existence are presented in a way that stimulates thought in a humble yet intruiging way. Ideas that may be well recognized and used in other fiction (in some cases overused) have some other element, some different approach, so that even if the premise is not "new" the experience certainly is. How this can be done, and in so few words no less, is beyond me.

                    This was certainly one of my very best buys and I know that this book will be well worn by my reading alone, not to mention that of the many people I will lend it to with my best recommendations. These short stories will bring beauty and excitement of the mind to many an otherwise boring, mundane day.

                    5 out of 5 stars Sublime Ideas.......2007-03-23

                    Borges is an ideas man. And he can write as well. I love his concepts even more than his writing. Some of his prose reminds me of Somerset Maughn and I wonder if that is the translator or himself. Some of the stories are ones that were common in his era and he's added a twist of lemon (Both Maughn and Borges have done the 'scar on the face' story.

                    A firm favourite, always. I like stories that twist your brain slightly to the left.
                    Jorge Luis Borges: Ficciones (BCP Spanish Texts)
                    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
                    • A Fair Sample of Borge's Universe.
                    Jorge Luis Borges: Ficciones (BCP Spanish Texts)
                    Jorge Luis Borges
                    Manufacturer: Duckworth Publishers
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Paperback

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                    SpanishSpanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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                    ASIN: 1853995908

                    Book Description

                    By common consent, the Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges (18990-1986) is one of the greatest writers to have emerged from Latin America. His finest work is "Ficciones" (1944), a collection of brilliantly-crafted, essay-like short stories. This edition, updated from the original 1976 edition by the same authors, offers a comprehensive selection of stories from the work with a full introduction, detailed notes, a generous vocabulary, bibliography, as well as chronological and other tables.

                    Customer Reviews:

                    5 out of 5 stars A Fair Sample of Borge's Universe. .......2005-08-31

                    Jorge Luis Borges (1899 - 1986) was one of the greatest Argentinean's writers of all times. Since 1970 he was candidate to Nobel Literature Prize, which he never attained, but he well deserved. In 1980 he was bestowed Cervantes Prize, the Spanish major literary award. He influenced two generations of Latin American writers. Even those who despised him as "elitist writer" admired his powerful imagination and writing skills.

                    Jorge Luis was born in a high-class family. He was bilingual, due to his English grandmother. He moved with his parents to Europe where he resided from 1914 till 1921. When he returned to Argentina he fells in love with Buenos Aires. This love affaire begot several poetry volumes and inspired him many stories.
                    Borges was an omnivorous reader with a wide range of interests: from Cabbala thru Golems; from Mythology thru Gaucho's hardships; from Immortality thru Infinite; from Buddhism thru Christianity. His tales reflect this interest.

                    The present book contains a good 30 pages introduction in English and present Borge's texts in Spanish.
                    This volume encompasses two of the author earlier stories collections: "The Garden of Forking Paths" (1941) and "Fictions" (1944) and constitute a fair sample of his writings and style.
                    "La Loteria de Babilonia" describes an improbable world, ruled by fate embodied in a lottery game. "Funes el Memorioso" elaborates on what happens if a person may recall every instant of his whole life. "El Jardin de Senderos que se Bifurcan" is an elegant detective's story. "La Biblioteca de Babel", is one of Borge's best known texts, where he speculates on an infinite library containing every volume of human literature and gave way to mathematical conjecture.
                    In other tales the reader will get in touch with some themes very dear to Borges: mirrors, treason, solitary Hero, multiple divergent versions of the same character, whole universe created ex nihlo from his imagination and more much more.

                    This is a very good book for anyone interested in reading Jorge's work in his native language!
                    Reviewed by Max Yofre.
                    La hora del lector (Ficciones)
                    Average customer rating: Not rated
                      La hora del lector (Ficciones)
                      J. M Castellet
                      Manufacturer: Peninsula
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Unknown Binding

                      GeneralGeneral | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
                      EducaciónEducación | No-Ficción | Libros en español | Formats | Books | Canada y México | Colegio y Universidad | Consejería | Curricula | Educación Especial | Educación de Adultos y Educación Continua | Escuela Primaria | Escuela Secundaria | Europa y Euroasia | General | Habilidades para el Estudio | Lectura | Método de Instrucción | Participación de Los Padres | Pedagogía | Politica | Referencia | Teoría Educativa | Transición y Jardin Infantil
                      ASIN: 8483073749
                      La Utopia Arcaica: Jose Maria Arguedas y Las Ficciones del Indigenismo (Letras Mexicanas)
                      Average customer rating: Not rated
                        La Utopia Arcaica: Jose Maria Arguedas y Las Ficciones del Indigenismo (Letras Mexicanas)
                        Mario Vargas Llosa
                        Manufacturer: Fondo de Cultura Economica USA
                        ProductGroup: Book
                        Binding: Paperback

                        GeneralGeneral | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
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                        Vargas Llosa, MarioVargas Llosa, Mario | ( V ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                        Libros en españolLibros en español | Formats | Books | Al Aire Libre y La Naturaleza | Arte, arquitectura y fotografía | Audiolibro en Casete | Biografías y memorias | Ciencia | Ciencia ficción y fantasía | Cocina | Computación e internet | Deportes | Entretenimiento | Gay y Lesbiana | Historia | Hogar y jardinería | Infantil y juvenil | Leyes | Literatura y ficción | Medicina | Misterio | Negocios e inversiones | No-Ficción | Padres y familia | Profesional y Técnico | Referencia | Religión y espiritualidad | Revistas Cómicas y Novelas Gráficas | Romance | Salud, mente y cuerpo | Viajes y turismo
                        ASIN: 9681648625
                        Ficciones
                        Average customer rating: Not rated
                          Ficciones
                          Jorge Luis Borges
                          Manufacturer: Grove press
                          ProductGroup: Book
                          Binding: Paperback
                          ASIN: B0000CLIEW
                          Ficciones y silencios fundacionales. Literaturas y culturas poscoloniales en América Latina (siglo XIX). (Nexos Y Diferencias/ Links and Differences)
                          Average customer rating: Not rated
                            Ficciones y silencios fundacionales. Literaturas y culturas poscoloniales en América Latina (siglo XIX). (Nexos Y Diferencias/ Links and Differences)

                            Manufacturer: Iberoamericana Vervuert
                            ProductGroup: Book
                            Binding: Paperback

                            GeneralGeneral | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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                            ASIN: 8484891011
                            Damas de Letras: Cuentos de Escritoras Argentinas del Siglo XX (Ficciones)
                            Average customer rating: Not rated
                              Damas de Letras: Cuentos de Escritoras Argentinas del Siglo XX (Ficciones)
                              Silvina Ocampo , Alejandra Pizarnik , and Ana Maria Shua
                              Manufacturer: Perfil S.A.
                              ProductGroup: Book
                              Binding: Hardcover

                              ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                              SpanishSpanish | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                              SpanishSpanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                              ContemporáneaContemporánea | General | Literatura y ficción | Libros en español | Formats | Books
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                              ASIN: 9506391742
                              Ficciones
                              Average customer rating: Not rated
                                Ficciones

                                Manufacturer: Grove Pr
                                ProductGroup: Book
                                Binding: Paperback
                                ASIN: B000HZ676Y
                                Ficciones Argentinas: Antologia de Lecturas Criticas (Coleccion Vitral)
                                Average customer rating: Not rated
                                  Ficciones Argentinas: Antologia de Lecturas Criticas (Coleccion Vitral)

                                  Manufacturer: Grupo Editorial Norma
                                  ProductGroup: Book
                                  Binding: Paperback

                                  GeneralGeneral | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
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                                  GeneralGeneral | Literatura y ficción | Libros en español | Formats | Books | Clásicos | Comicidad | Contemporánea | Literaria
                                  ASIN: 9875451541
                                  Ficciones Fundacionales
                                  Average customer rating: 1 out of 5 stars
                                  • Aun estoy esperando por mi libro :-(
                                  Ficciones Fundacionales
                                  Doris Sommer
                                  Manufacturer: Fondo de Cultura Economica USA
                                  ProductGroup: Book
                                  Binding: Paperback

                                  SemioticsSemiotics | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                                  SpanishSpanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
                                  SemióticaSemiótica | Crítica y Teoría | Historia y Crítica | Literatura y ficción | Libros en español | Formats | Books
                                  ASIN: 9588249007

                                  Customer Reviews:

                                  1 out of 5 stars Aun estoy esperando por mi libro :-(.......2007-09-30

                                  Desafortunadamente no puedo opinar porque aun no recibo mi producto. Estoy muy, pero muy desilusionada.

                                  Ela Molina Morelock

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                                  1. The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean
                                  2. The Fractal Murders (Pepper Keane Mysteries)
                                  3. The Gospel of Judas : A Novel
                                  4. The Hanging Tree
                                  5. The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill
                                  6. The Melancholy of Anatomy: Stories
                                  7. The Rector of Justin: A Novel
                                  8. The Richard Rodgers Reader (Readers on American Musicians)
                                  9. The Sea Came in at Midnight
                                  10. The Songs of the Kings: A Novel

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