I recently gave away a copy of Jorge Luis Borges' "Dreamtigers" to a friend of mine. Just for the fun of it...I reasoned it was short and he might like it. The cover of the book includes an accolade that it is one of the best books of the twentieth century. I'm not sure I agree with that, but it is among my favorites. I've read it three times now.
"Dreamtigers" is a collection of extremely short stories - often only a page or a little more - and thoughts and poems. Borges was predominantly a poet though, later in his career, he went into short fiction as well. He never wrote a novel as I understand that he felt that format was bloated and inefficient. That's often true in my opinion.
This book is less than a hundred pages and, due to the brevity of some of the works included, is even shorter than the page numbers suggest it is.
I thought I'd share one of his poems that struck me strongly enough that it brought me to reread this book so many years after I last read it. It had stuck with me that long. It is called 'Limits"
There is a line in Verlaine I shall not recall again,
There is a street close by forbidden to my feet,
There's a mirror that's seen me for the very last time, There is a door that I have locked till the end of the world.
Among the books in my library (I have them before me)
There are some that I shall never open now.
This summer I complete my fiftieth year;
Death is gnawing at me ceaselessly.
Also there is a couple of Dante themed excerpts that I shared with my stepson, who is a big fan of Dante. I ultimately handed over my copy of "Dreamtigers" after finishing it in case he wanted to see more. One quick quote related to Dante's passing away: "Tradition has it that, on waking, he felt he had been given - and then had lost - something infinite, something he would not be able to recover, or even to glimpse, for the machinery of the world is far too complex for the simplicity of men."
I need to read more Borges considering how much I love this book. I'll get to it at some point....or at least I hope to...