Call number
Publication
New York : Penguin, 2005.
Pages
xv; 236
Description
The master, writing with sometime collaborator Guerrero, compiled 82 one- and two-page descriptions of everything from "The Borametz" (a Chinese "plant shaped like a lamb, covered with golden fleece") to "The Simurgh" ("an immortal bird that makes its nest in the tree of science") and "The Zaratan" (a particularly cunning whale) in An Anthology of Fantastic Zoology in 1954. He added 34 more (and illustrations) for a 1967 edition, giving it the present title, and it was published in English in 1969. This edition, with fresh translations from Borges's Collected Fictions translator Hurley, and new illustrations from Caldecott-winner Sis, gives the beings new life. They prove the perfect foils for classic Borgesian musings on everything from biblical etymology to the underworld, giving the creatures particularly (and, via Sis, whimsically) vivid and perfectly scaled shape. "We do not know what the dragon means, just as we do not know the meaning of the universe," Borges (1899-1986) and Guerrero write in a preface, and the genius of this book is that it seems to easily contain the latter within it.… (more)
Language
Original language
Spanish
Original publication date
1957
Physical description
xv, 236 p.; 9.84 inches
ISBN
0143039938 / 9780143039938
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User reviews
LibraryThing member melannen
"As we all know," says the preface, "There is a kind of lazy pleasure in useless and out-of-the-way erudition." And that lazy pleasure comes well through in the reading of this book, as it must have done in the writing of it.
This is a bestiary in the old fashioned sense: a miscellany of accounts of
I can't help but wonder what is to become of efforts like this; this compilation was surely the result of many sunny hours browsing through well-loved books and libraries, and yet now I can get the same result in about an hour with Google books search... and for all that the ease of information is great, I can't help but think with no need anymore for lazy erudition, we'll lose something valuable.
I'd also love to read this in the original Spanish, especially as a not-insignificant fraction of the original sources were in English.
This is a bestiary in the old fashioned sense: a miscellany of accounts of
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creatures, all pulled from secondary sources, and selected more for their thematic or literary value than any attempt at rigorous research. It's a great book, either for reading through or one entry at a time, and it includes both the well-known creatures like dragons, ones I've never seen in any other book (A Bao A Qu), and fictional creatures from early fantasy and mystical writings.I can't help but wonder what is to become of efforts like this; this compilation was surely the result of many sunny hours browsing through well-loved books and libraries, and yet now I can get the same result in about an hour with Google books search... and for all that the ease of information is great, I can't help but think with no need anymore for lazy erudition, we'll lose something valuable.
I'd also love to read this in the original Spanish, especially as a not-insignificant fraction of the original sources were in English.
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LibraryThing member GuilhermeSolari
Not the best thing I have read from Borges, but this author's mediocre work is excellent at any standard.
The book itself is pretty much an inside joke of sorts, playing with Borge's obsession of creating new worlds and cultures and then leaving traces of them in real life. Much like the main idea
Borges manages to give us a taste of how rich the human imagination can be without being too dense. Some of the animals are pretty familiar (dragons and centaurs and such), but others really do defy the imagination.
The book itself is pretty much an inside joke of sorts, playing with Borge's obsession of creating new worlds and cultures and then leaving traces of them in real life. Much like the main idea
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in Tlon, Uqbar and Orbis Tertius.Borges manages to give us a taste of how rich the human imagination can be without being too dense. Some of the animals are pretty familiar (dragons and centaurs and such), but others really do defy the imagination.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
A light-hearted encyclopedia-style collection of imaginary beings, depicted in Borges' particular style. By no means exhaustive or comprehensive, but great fun to dip into for a bit of mythology, folklore, or literary creation.
LibraryThing member Nickelini
This is a book past its Best Before date. It's a bestiary that covers fantastical creatures from mythology and literature, including the well-known and the obscure. I also introduces a bunch from single and recent pieces of fiction (like Kafka & CS Lewis). Good representation of Europe and Asia,
Great concept, but without fabulous full colour illustrations, this can be better covered with a google search. Wikipedia has a perfect synopsis for this book, so I'd recommend reading that instead. This was a book I'd pick up and read an entry or two and it took me ages and ages to get through because the writing was overwhelmingly dry and uninteresting. It did have some moments, but I had to read a lot of boring words to get to it. Illustrations would have helped because the text wasn't evocative enough to spark my imagination.
Recommended for: creative people looking for inspiration and who live in 1967.
Why I Read This Now: Well "now" doesn't actually apply, as I'm sure I started reading this in 2019. Possibly 2018. But I did read the whole stale 197 pages and finished it today.
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not so good (to non-existent) coverage of indigenous people of the Americas, Australia and assorted islands. Great concept, but without fabulous full colour illustrations, this can be better covered with a google search. Wikipedia has a perfect synopsis for this book, so I'd recommend reading that instead. This was a book I'd pick up and read an entry or two and it took me ages and ages to get through because the writing was overwhelmingly dry and uninteresting. It did have some moments, but I had to read a lot of boring words to get to it. Illustrations would have helped because the text wasn't evocative enough to spark my imagination.
Recommended for: creative people looking for inspiration and who live in 1967.
Why I Read This Now: Well "now" doesn't actually apply, as I'm sure I started reading this in 2019. Possibly 2018. But I did read the whole stale 197 pages and finished it today.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rnarvaez
The master, writing with sometime collaborator Guerrero, compiled 82 one- and two-page descriptions of everything from "The Borametz" (a Chinese "plant shaped like a lamb, covered with golden fleece") to "The Simurgh" ("an immortal bird that makes its nest in the tree of science") and "The Zaratan"
Show More
(a particularly cunning whale) in An Anthology of Fantastic Zoology in 1954. He added 34 more (and illustrations) for a 1967 edition, giving it the present title, and it was published in English in 1969. This edition, with fresh translations from Borges's Collected Fictions translator Hurley, and new illustrations from Caldecott-winner Sís, gives the beings new life. Show Less
LibraryThing member israfel13
I've never read this book so to speak but rather refer to it as one would a dictionary and I'm never dissapointed.
LibraryThing member veevoxvoom
This is a book that I've always wanted: an encyclopedia of creatures from world mythology that doesn't have to be exhaustive, but is interesting and written in a way that makes you want to see them and imagine their beauty and ugliness. Plus, it's Jorge Luis Borges. How can you go wrong?
The Book of
All in all, it's a wonderful, quirky little book.
The Book of
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Imaginary Beings isn't very long or thick. It picks about one hundred animals and gives them each a page or two, but rather than being didactic (this is not a reference book, so if you're looking for that, look elsewhere), Borges describes them with language fit for the legends that they come out of. It's like reading one hundred short stories. And he picks animals from all around the world. Many of the animals you will never have heard of before, but there are also a few favourites like dragons and unicorns, described in Borges' careful, lyrical style.All in all, it's a wonderful, quirky little book.
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LibraryThing member skylightbooks
This catalogue of creatures is a prime example of the magical realism for which Borges is known. He relates stories and myths from myriad sources: beasts imagined by Kafka, Poe, C.S Lewis, and Lewis Carroll; legends from Egypt, Scandinavia, Greece, and the American Midwest; creatures you may have
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met in the Odyssey and promptly forgotten about; and animals who exist but who have a rich mythological history. The whimsical drawings and flowing prose make this book a great gift for old and young, for those who are still in touch with their wild imaginations, and for those who rather miss believing in the inexplicable. -Emily Show Less
LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
While I am a big fan of Borges I would not say that I was overly impressed with this book. I think this could partly due to the edition I have not being one of the illustrated ones, but I don't think it is that alone. Despite this, the book does have a lot going for it, the variety of sources that
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the creatures come from is well researched and impressive, from the ancient Greek writers to the more modern novelists; there is a certain academic feel to it aside from the general amusing nature of the book. This isn't the sort of book that is best appreciated by reading straight through, but is better dipped into. I wouldn't consider this one of Borges' essential works, but no doubt fans of the author will like it even though it isn't in the same league as Labyrinths, as Borges' characteristic style can be noticed in most of the descriptions. Also, at nearly 250 pages, (which isn't actually that long), it is longer than many of his collections of stories. Show Less
LibraryThing member SebastianHagelstein
The Book of Imaginary Beings has descriptions and illustrations of mythical creatures from folklore and myths all over the world. It is well organzied and each creature is listed in alphabetical order. This is almost like a handbook or guide to mythical creatures.
LibraryThing member sometimeunderwater
Interesting to dip in and out of, but not much more. Quite light in many of the descriptions. A mile away from Borges' own writing.
LibraryThing member drardavis
More than a hundred descriptions of imaginary creatures are presented, ranging in length from a single paragraph to a couple of pages. Described on the cover as a “whimsical compendium”, I wonder where the whimsy went. It reads like a technical paper rather than a master writer’s presentation
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of fantastical beasts. The entries are alphabetical and seemingly exhaustively researched from ancient texts. I’ll put it on the shelf next to my dictionary. Show Less
LibraryThing member dylkit
My own fault for not getting the illustrated version, but it was fun looking up the various beings
LibraryThing member Ghost_Boy
This is not a collection of short stories. I'm not sure why many users label it as so, but this is non-fiction and an encyclopedia. Borges cites a lot of other authors. One of the negatives I have with this book is it's very little of Borges words and more of what he thought of other writers words
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based on these creatures. This is my first Borges book too. I want to read his other stuff soon, but read this first because it was shorter. I still liked this though. I wonder what Borges would have though of yokai? While this contains a lot of beasts, it lacks things from Japan. Not sure if he knew about yokai or not, but they would fit perfectly in this book. Show Less