RanaldClouston
@RanaldClouston@fediscience.org
Lecturer in Computer Science at Australian National University. See my introduction post https://fediscience.org/@RanaldClouston/111372747473214344 He/him.
fediscience.org
Finished reading this collection of short stories and critical and philosophical essays by Borges, mostly from the 1940s, and unfortunately bounced off it pretty hard. His very short stories are written (and translated) in a style that I found dry and laborious, stuffed with literary, philosophical, and religious references, leaving little room for the usual pleasures of reading fiction, like engaging characters. This is in line with his intentions I think, as he focuses squarely on astounding the reader with ideas, but (and this, of course, is no criticism of him!) many of the ideas have permeated our culture in a way that reduces the wow factor they would once have carried. E.g. the pointless recursive repetition of his Library can be seen in Piranesi, Backrooms, etc. So definitely historically interesting and I don't regret reading it, but not very engaging. @bookstodon@fedigroups.social #bookstodon