O escritor argentino Jorge Luis Borges é conhecido por uma erudição enciclopédica e por seu interesse por situações metafísicas, filosóficas, matemáticas. Inclusive a Taverna Fim do Mundo tem planejada uma semana com uma resenha de Borges a cada dia. Aguardem..

Borges é um dos escritores sobre o qual eu mais ouvi a frase “queria tanto ler, mas não consigo”. De fato, ler contos onde praticamente metade dos parágrafos tem notas de rodapé ou referências a livros de mais de 500 anos em latim, grego ou aramaico não é para qualquer um. A minha sugestão pra essas pessoas é: leia o que você entende. Ligue o trator e siga adiante, que uma leitura rasa já auxilia uma releitura. E até para os iniciados, Borges é um escritor que floresce muito nas releituras.

No Book of Imaginary Beings, Borges cria uma enciclopédia informal sobre animais fictícios. O livro passa tanto por criaturas esperadas nesse tipo de coletânea, como centauros e dragões, como pelos mais inusitados, tal qual serpentes com duas cabeças, uma em cada extremidade, ou Á Bao Qu que, francamente, é estranho demais para descrever em poucas palavras, ou ainda a estátua de Condillac, que já discuti em um post anterior.

A obra está longe de ser completa, mas esse não é o propósito. Borges quer apenas tecer comentários sobre alguns animais sem nenhuma pretensão de esvaziar o tema. O livro chega a ser uma piada interna do próprio universo borgiano, onde artefatos de mundos alternativos acabam transbordando para o mundo real. ( )

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 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. ( )

This is a very enjoyable book, pure concentrated Borges. That means of course that he refers to an incredibly wide array of mythology, literature, word-of-mouth, and what have you. Where else will you find imaginary creatures from Argentinian, Wisconsin lumberjack, ancient China, ancient India, and from nowhere in particular.

I do have a problem with this edition, however. I looked up one of the creatures I wasn't familiar with, the Naja, which is illustrated with a story from the Mahabharata. The story as told in this book is quite garbled, which makes me wonder about the rest of the examples I'm not familiar with. The garbling might have been Borjes', or the translator's. I'm thinking it was the translator, since he did not make any mention of the problem, as he did in other cases. ( )

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 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. ( )

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 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