Collected Stories

“Perhaps the chief justification of this book is the translation itself, which we have undertaken in what may be a new way. Working closely together in daily sessions, we have tried to make these stories read as though they had been written in English. We do not consider English and Spanish as compounded of sets of easily interchangeable synonyms; they are two quite different ways of looking at the world, each with a nature of its own. English, for example, is far more physical than Spanish. We have therefore shunned the dictionary as much as possible and done our best to rethink every sentence in English words.” — Jorges Luis Borges, Norman Thomas di Giovanni, 1970A compilation of the long out-of-print Giovanni translations of many of the short stories of J. L. Borges. These English translations were collaborative efforts between Borges and Giovanni and represent the author's preferred English text.They have been supplanted by the rather mundane Hurley translations due to Borges's widow, who currently manages his estate. Currently the estate allows no new printings of the Giovanni translations - hence this volume. Yes, it is unauthorized; this edition takes its authorization from the author's stated preference while he was alive, and its view on legality that nothing should steal from the public sphere the beautiful words of Jorge Luis Borges.