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Title: Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges, Harold Morland, Mildred Boyer ISBN: 0-292-73217-1 Publisher: University of Texas Press Pub. Date: December, 1964 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (6 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Genius in Fragments and Sketches
Comment: Jorge Luis Borges will be remembered as one of the outstanding writers of the twentieth century. I am continually awed by his imagination, by his incredible breadth, and by his command of language.

At one point Borges considered this particular collection of miscellany - odd poems, stories, parables, sketches, fragments, and fictional quotations - to be a mirror of his life, and even possibly a work that would outlast his widely admired Ficciones and El Aleph. Dreamtigers is indeed fascinating, but it likely to be more fully appreciated by readers already familiar with Borges. A reader new to Jorge Luis Borges might begin with Ficciones, The Aleph, Labyrinths, or Seven Nights.

The prose was translated by Mildred Boyer and the poetry by Harold Morland. The arrangement is by Borges himself, and reflects an association of ideas, not a chronological grouping. Any reader acquainted with his works undoubtedly recognizes that Borges often returns to favorite themes in various guises, sometime deliberately, other times unintentionally.

This collection seems more personal and biographical than his better known works. The dedication is to an Argentine poet, long dead, that Borges once unreservedly criticized. The essay Dreamtigers is a personal reflection on the limits of creativity. The Draped Mirrors is a haunting recollection about a friend that suffered a uniquely personal (from Borges perspective) mental illness. Borges and I explores the confused identity of Borges the writer and Borges the man. Other essays are less biographical, and reveal his deep fascination with the thoughts and ideas of other writers, especially Homer, Dante, Plato, Coleridge, and Cervantes.

Dreamtigers is evenly divided between prose and poetry. Borges began his literary career as a poet and only gradually moved to prose. Amazingly, his poetry is as remarkable as his prose. Many poems reflect his vast knowledge and interests - the inevitable passage of time, the game of chess, mirrors, Anglo-Saxon grammar, and Ariosto and the Arabs. Others are more biographical, often touching on themes that were also subjects of essays. The poetic translation by Harold Morland is excellent.

Rating: 4
Summary: GREAT INTRODUCTION TO BORGES'S SHORTER WORKS
Comment: I give this book 4 stars because I honestly don't feel that it's his best collection. That honor would go to his collection of short stories entitled, THE BOOK OF SAND. LABYRINTHS comes in a close second or third. But for the beginning Borges reader, this is an EXCELLENT place to start. The book is divided into two primary parts: Borges's parables and super-short stories; and his poems. There's nothing over three pages long in here, except the introduction. Naturally, I found lots of quotable lines and paragraphs in this work. The translation is very good, too. It definitely sounds like Borges, and the tranlators even manage to get some of his poems to rhyme while still getting across that Borgesian feeling. You'd almost think that all of this stuff was written in English to begin with. Assuming you haven't read Borges, he's very intellectual, knows lots about history and books, and loves to write on the subjects of tigers, yellow, blindness, Dante, Martin Fierro, and *the other Borges*. Hope you like this book.

Rating: 4
Summary: excellent if you're in the proper frame of mind
Comment: dreamtigers has languished on my shelf for over a year... for some reason i just couldn't get into it. foolish me.

this little book broken into two parts- a collection of short pieces some poetry. all very brief- the longest passage occupies a little over two pages.

what i'm really struck by is how personal this collection is. i've seen borges as a towering intellect but rather cold. dreamtigers has forced me to re-evaluate this- there's tenderness, loss and affection in these works.

borges is always dazzling, and the second part is a good introduction to his poetry, of which i understand there is a lot. the introductory and appendix notes are most illuminating.