Labyrinths

Author: Jorge Luis Borges

Labyrinths, a collection of ficciones and other short pieces from several of Borges's earlier books, was the first opportunity the mass of English speakers had to encounter the work of this extraordinary Argentinian writer. He was the godfather of what became known as "magic realism", but that would be too narrow a description for the range of things he wrote.These stories include romantic realism and mythic fantasy, by way of a host of stories that can only be called science fiction. These include tales of immortals, the endless regress at the heart of "The Circular Ruins", a fantastic version of the classic detective story in "Death and the Compass", extraordinary cities, infinite libraries, and above all the discovery of a strange parallel reality in "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius".Why it's on the list"Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" alone would be enough to guarantee Labyrinths a place on this list, but it is accompanied by a host of other brilliant stories that twist our perceptions of reality.