Best Short Stories by Jorge Luis Borges - Learning From Literature

Jorge Luis Borges’ literary imagination is unparalleled. Renowned for his captivating short stories, Borges crafted entire worlds with their own rules, using these settings to explore profound philosophical ideas and alternate perspectives.

His works include everything from imaginary books by fictional authors, to encyclopedia entries about a country that may not exist, to a narrative of the Greek Minotaur told from the beast’s point of view. Borges also wrote a story that can be read in multiple ways — effectively inventing the hypertext genre. Each tale is a unique journey into the possibilities of literature itself.

Enjoy!

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The Immortal — a Roman soldier sets off to find the “City of The Immortals”, accidentally achieves immortality, and recounts his experiences passing through history

The Lottery of Babylon — a lottery that starts normal enough but evolves into something with much higher stakes, with the Lottery eventually controlling every aspect of Babylonian life

The House of Asterion — an account of the world through the eyes of the Minotaur

Deutsches Requiem — a former Nazi’s attempt to understand the fate of Germany

Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius — an encyclopedia entry on a mysterious country that appears not to exist

The Dead Man — an ambitious teenager from Buenos Aires kills a man in a knife fight, escapes to the wild plains of Uruguay, and attempts to become the leader of a gaucho smuggling gang

Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote — an attempt to write a book that’s already been written — not copy, but literally recreate

The Circular Ruins — a man attempts to dream another man into existence

The Library of Babel — the universe is a library of infinite hexagonal rooms extending in all directions (pictured in title)

The Garden of Forking Paths — a German spy is on the run from Allied authorities but before he is captured discovers the truth about his ancestor’s hidden labyrinth

Funes, His Memory — Ireneo Funes, a child who after receiving a bad head injury, acquired the talent (or curse?) of remembering absolutely everything

Three Versions of Judas — fictitious writer Nils Runeberg presents three versions of Judas Iscariot

The Sect of the Phoenix — a secret society that began in ancient times but they only perform one ritual, the secret is not shared even with their own children — an extended riddle in which the answer is not given

The Two Kings and The Two Labyrinths — one king humiliates another with an intricate labyrinth; a few years later, the embarrassed king shows the other a labyrinth of his own

The South — a librarian idealizes his demise, choosing to die in an “honorable” way

Emma Zunz — a girl who allows herself to be assaulted in order to murder her boss as revenge for her father’s death

The Writing of God — a former priest sits captive in a dark pit for the rest of his life with only a wall between him and a jaguar — he finds the writing of God in the pattern of its coat

Ibn-Hakam Al-Bokhari, Murderer in His Labyrinth — a mysterious murder of a king, slave, and lion in a labyrinth of his own making

Borges and I — Borges distinguishes his private self versus the public persona

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