Monday, April 5, 2010

Jorges Luis Borges - Ficciones

After the merciless rejections from the Ivies, my vanity had crumbled to dust. I looked out for books which explained for meaning of life(maybe a slight exaggeration but true nonetheless) and I found Borges.

The book is not a novel, but a compilation of short stories that he had written; very short, in fact, that some were only 4 sides long. However, Borges showed that he was the master of succinct writing by making them so packed and structured. Indeed, I feel like I've read 15 books by just reading this.

At first, I didn't know what on earth he was talking about, his topics being so abstract. However, when I read the words with the utmost concentration that the stories of Borges deserved, I found myself wonderfully entertained when he talked about various philosophical questions in a playful and narrative way.

Let me just pick one from the stories which were all interesting. The "Library of Babel" was staged in a library which was (supposedly) infinite; it contained information about everything in the world, as the library had books which had all possible combination of words. However, in the end, one realises that this Library, which definitely does contained answers to everything, is as good as nothing, as although there are answers, there will also be refuting arguments in other books.

The book mentioned Schopenhauer a lot; maybe I'll read his works next time

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