The Aleph and Other Stories
Borges's labyrinths and infinities, including The Immortal and The Aleph, in one volume.
A Penguin Classics collection of Jorge Luis Borges’s stories from The Aleph, translated by Andrew Hurley, together with the prose pieces from The Maker. It includes The Immortal, about a Roman soldier who finds a river that grants eternal life, and The Aleph, about a point in space that contains every other point.
Recommended by 2 People
Georgi Gospodinov
Article · May 2022
Stephen Cave
This story is about a Roman officer who finds the fountain of youth, a river that cleanses men of death, as he puts it. He becomes an immortal and meets the other immortals who have found the river, and the story is about the consequences of this – namely, madness and meaninglessness. There’s a great deal of speculation among philosophers and religious types about what it might be like to live together. These 20 pages capture it so perfectly. It’s such a fine example of Borgesian writing – tense, lucid, packed with meaning so you immediately feel like reading it again in case you missed something.
Interview · April 2012
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