Labyrinths

Selected Stories & Other Writings

By: Jorge Luis Borges

Narrated by: Dominic Keating

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Now, new in audio and completely unabridged, the collection that made Borges a household name in the English-speaking world. 

The groundbreaking trans-genre work of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) has been insinuating itself into the structure, stance, and very breath of world literature for well over half a century. Multi-layered, self-referential, elusive, and allusive writing is now frequently labelled Borgesian. 

Umberto Eco's international best seller The Name of the Rose is, on one level, an elaborate improvisation on Borges' fiction "The Library", which American readers first encountered in the original 1962 New Directions publication of Labyrinths. 

This new edition of Labyrinths, the classic representative selection of Borges' writing edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby (in translations by themselves and others), includes the text of the original edition (as augmented in 1964) as well as Irby's biographical and critical essay, a poignant tribute by André Maurois, and a chronology of the author's life. Borges enthusiast William Gibson has contributed a new introduction, bringing Borges' influence and importance into the 21st century.

©1962, 1964, 2007 New Directions Publishing Corporation (P)2019 New Directions Publishing Corporation

Look, this is Borges

Borges is fantastic, in many ways. Truly superb writing and thinking--but why have it read by a narrator who can't pronounce the words? Narrators should read the book in advance, make notes and find out how to pronounce the foreign names and words, or else it becomes a travesty. Audible should set standards of how to approach such a task, instead of just putting somebody in front of a microphone. I mean, we're speaking of one of the greatest authors ever.

Staccato reading style is annoying

I’d read a numbers of the stories in Labyrinths years ago. I thought the audiobook version would be a great way to re-enjoy the works of Borges.
Sadly, this audiobook version did not fulfill my expectations.
The narrator’s style of reading becomes more and more aggravating the further into the book one gets.
He reads as if every comma is a period, and then he fills each sentence with imaginary commas.
Read for three seconds...
Pause...
Read for three seconds...
Pause
And so on.
In addition, his pronunciation of certain common words is odd; his pronunciation of non-English words comes scross as clumsy.

Jungian Existentialist Inquiry Obviates Meaning

Borges is one of the great writers, ever. This book compiles short stories with his reviews of other authors; recommending and analyzing for us those authors, as well as the author at hand. Reading the authors he discusses, serves to discern the subtleties of Borges' worldview.: deconstruction of the Jungian "Magician/Wizard" archetype in the context of existential futility. Existential inquiry demonstrates the relevance of meaning via reciprocal dialectical opposition; in that he pursues it, it has relevance. His pursuit defines the context of the meaning he's searching for. All meaning has to be is relevant to understanding growth experience, which his inquiry uncovers in abundance. The search for meaning, obviates the relevance of meaning to contemplative introspection on experience and validates growth as a rationally self-interested proposal. Though, his core themes analyze existential futility; the relevance of the inquiry itself to understanding, obviates the pursuit of meaningful (material) good and its concomitantly related, rational expectations of probabilistic outcomes. Relevant "material good" is useful to rational worldview; if the ostensible goal of meaningful experience, is to realize personal or cultural progress. Progress is only achieved in awareness. One must understand how and why the likely outcome of our efforts, will serve rationally perceived best interests; in order for given behavior to reflect meaningful growth experience.

What a shame

Borges is a genius but the way these stories were read, “declaimed” is a better description, takes away all the charm and mystery. Borges deserves better.

Stimulating book, but what's with that narrator?

I especially enjoyed the essays, but the narrator mispronounced so many words, including names, that I wonder whether some deliberate Borges joke was in play.

Not for me

There was nothing in the story that would catch my attention. The artist's voice and performance did not help: sounded like a polished computer reading.

Some of the very best of the incomparable Borges

generally performed with just the right tone and effect. my only criticism would be that the authors pronunciation of some words is questionable in my opinion and his pronunciation of German is atrocious. fortunately there are not many German phrases or words in the book.

if you've never been exposed to Borges before, this work is an excellent place to start containing fiction, essays, and parables. That this man was never awarded a Nobel prize for literature is one of the great injustices of literary history.

Better Living Through Audio

This work attempts to unpack a lifetime dedicated to the exploration of writing and purpose. The audio helps greatly with the freedom to simply "scrub" back and forth when the density becomes illusive or problematic. This allowed me to listen completely as I drove about; and still I want to explore the book further, dig through notes, to travel a sort of astral landscape. Inspiration similar to a great musical album. This is the first audiobook that may live on my phone rent free.

Bizarre pronunciation

I'm not sure whether some of the very odd and offputting pronunciations of some words, at times to the point of near-incomprensibility, are due to the narrator's dialect of English or unfamiliarity with particular words. In most cases this problem does not detract from the understanding of the narrative in a serious way, but it's distracting nonetheless. His German pronunciation is also generally atrocious; I cannot speak to his handling of the many brief passages, phrases and names in French and Spanish, but these seem okay to my untrained ear.

Scriptural in significance

I would say this Fabulous book has the significance of a scripture. I’m sucked in. I while Audible offered the complete stories. To bad it is I Spanish.

Boring reading

Couldn't finish it. Poor, monotonous and non-engaging reading. The text is recited and not interpreted

Badly narrated

Could not finish it. The narrator would insist on stressing the wrong words. Hopefully there will be a better version.