Reading Order
FiccionesBorges Ficciones Reading Order
Jorge Luis Borges's Ficciones (1944) is the most influential short story collection of the twentieth century — seventeen stories organized as fictional reviews of imaginary books, descriptions of imaginary encyclopedias, and philosophical parables about the nature of reality, time, and knowledge. Borges invented a form of fiction that influenced virtually every postmodernist who came after him: the story that presents itself as a document, a review, or a report rather than a narrative, and that uses this formal displacement to raise philosophical questions that conventional narrative cannot. Ficciones is one of the few books that genuinely changed what literature is capable of.
Where to start
Ficciones
Complete Ficciones Book List
- 1Buy
Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges·1944·The foundational collection — seventeen stories including 'The Garden of Forking Paths,' 'The Library of Babel,' 'Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,' and 'The Lottery in Babylon'; the work that changed what literature is capable of - 2Buy
Labyrinths
Jorge Luis Borges·1962·The English-language collection that introduced Borges to the Anglo-American world — including stories from Ficciones and El Aleph plus essays and parables; the standard English-language introduction to Borges's fiction - 3Buy
The Aleph and Other Stories
Jorge Luis Borges·1949·The companion collection — including 'The Aleph,' 'Death and the Compass,' 'The Man on the Threshold,' and other essential stories; for readers who want more Borges after Ficciones - Buy
Collected Fictions
OptionalJorge Luis Borges·1998·Andrew Hurley's complete translation of all of Borges's fiction — the definitive edition and the best way to read Borges comprehensively once you've been introduced by Ficciones or Labyrinths
Ficciones — Frequently Asked Questions
What order should I read Borges in?
Start with Ficciones or Labyrinths — both contain the essential stories, and Labyrinths is often the easiest to find. Then The Aleph and Other Stories. Once you know you love Borges, get the Collected Fictions for the complete picture. His non-fiction — the essays in Other Inquisitions and A Universal History of Infamy — is worth reading after you know his fiction.
Are Borges's stories difficult?
Borges's stories range from relatively accessible ('The South,' 'The Garden of Forking Paths') to extremely demanding ('Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,' 'Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote'). All of them reward rereading. The demanding ones often become clear on a second reading when you know where they're going. Don't be discouraged by the first few pages of the most abstract stories.
What are the most essential Borges stories?
'The Garden of Forking Paths' (time as a labyrinth), 'The Library of Babel' (an infinite library containing every possible book), 'Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote' (the impossible task of rewriting Don Quixote word for word), 'The Lottery in Babylon' (a lottery that organizes all of life), 'The Aleph' (a point in space that contains all other points), and 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' (an imaginary world that gradually replaces the real one).
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