On Mysticism

Introduction by Maria Kodama
$24.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Classics
64 per carton
On sale Jun 29, 2010 | 978-0-14-310569-5
Sales rights: World

An unprecedented collection of the visionary Argentine writer’s meditations on the mystical realm
 
Jorge Luis Borges immersed himself and his readers in metaphysical fantasies—playing reason against faith, belief against logic. His profound knowledge of eastern religions was an endless source of inspiration for his writing. On Mysticism—edited by Borges’s widow, Maria Kodama—brings together a stunning group of prose pieces and poems that speak to this signature theme of his writing, from some of his most celebrated works to others that appear here in English for the first time. Together they yield valuable insights into the most ineffable dimension of his writing, illuminating the inimitable rewards of this literary visionary, a wisdom writer whose belief in the magic of words has made him beloved around the world. 

On Mysticism

Contents
 
Introduction by Maria Kodama
A Note on the Text

I. Borges the Mystic

• The Circular Ruins
• The Library of Babel
• Funes the Memorious
• The Aleph 
• The Zahir   
• The Writing of the God 
• The Simurgh and the Eagle  
• A New Refutation of Time
• Paradiso XXXI, 108 
• Epilogue to Dreamtigers
• Poem of the Gifts 
• Matthew XXV: 30 
• On Salvation by Deeds  
• Patio
   
II. Through the Looking Glass

• George Santayana
• Thomas Mann on Schopenhauer
• Berkeley’s Crossroads
• "The Tragic Everyday, The Blind Pilot, Words and Blood"
• Do You Believe in God?

Sources

About

An unprecedented collection of the visionary Argentine writer’s meditations on the mystical realm
 
Jorge Luis Borges immersed himself and his readers in metaphysical fantasies—playing reason against faith, belief against logic. His profound knowledge of eastern religions was an endless source of inspiration for his writing. On Mysticism—edited by Borges’s widow, Maria Kodama—brings together a stunning group of prose pieces and poems that speak to this signature theme of his writing, from some of his most celebrated works to others that appear here in English for the first time. Together they yield valuable insights into the most ineffable dimension of his writing, illuminating the inimitable rewards of this literary visionary, a wisdom writer whose belief in the magic of words has made him beloved around the world. 

Table of Contents

On Mysticism

Contents
 
Introduction by Maria Kodama
A Note on the Text

I. Borges the Mystic

• The Circular Ruins
• The Library of Babel
• Funes the Memorious
• The Aleph 
• The Zahir   
• The Writing of the God 
• The Simurgh and the Eagle  
• A New Refutation of Time
• Paradiso XXXI, 108 
• Epilogue to Dreamtigers
• Poem of the Gifts 
• Matthew XXV: 30 
• On Salvation by Deeds  
• Patio
   
II. Through the Looking Glass

• George Santayana
• Thomas Mann on Schopenhauer
• Berkeley’s Crossroads
• "The Tragic Everyday, The Blind Pilot, Words and Blood"
• Do You Believe in God?

Sources