A Universal History of Iniquity

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Tales of the wicked - Rated
Jorge Luis Borges is so well known for his magical, often strange fiction that it seems a bit weird that his first book was sort-of-nonfiction.

In fact, "A Universal History of Iniquity" is a fairly interesting book, in which Borges spins some fanciful details for the lives of great criminals. It's a fascinating read, though his writing is still dogged by first-time-writer awkwardness in some of the stories.

Using words as a paintbrush, Borges explores the slavery-era South, the Wild West, the medieval Middle-East and Japan, Chinese seas, and the dreary streets of twentieth-century American cities. And the people he checks out are almost as colourful, starting out with a silver-tongued, slave-murdering outlaw and a "simple" man who was convinced to impersonate an aristocrat.

But his iniquitous people get even more interesting after that -- a Chinese widow who became a magnificent pirate, a brutal street urchin who became a legendary Western outlaw, a prominent gangster, a Japanese courtier who destroyed a lord (and incurred the wrath of his samurai), and a veiled prophet who created a citadel of devoted followers, and his own dark religion... but whose veil hid a terrifying secret.

And Borges finishes it off with a few more tales more suited to his style -- first there's the gritty, quirky "Man on Pink Corner." And then he addresses some legendary iniquitous people -- from Swedenborg, Richard Francis Burton, "1001 Nights," and the readapted tale of a callous deacon's broken promises.

"A Universal History of Iniquity" was Borges' first collection of stories, and with the exception of a few short stories, his first published works. So he was a little wobbly here as he balanced between telling the life story of his iniquitous people, and embroidering their stories with his lush prose and fictionalized accounts. Most of the time, he's quite good.

In fact, his gorgeous prose embellishes already larger-than-life tales -- he paints lush, murmuring plantations, desert citadels, and houses built by angels. His prose isn't quite as steady as it later was, but has the vibrant intensity that readers would expect ("A landscape dazzlingly underlain with gold and silver, a windblown, dizzying landscape of monumental mesas and delicate colouration...").

Problem is, he doesn't seem very interested in grubby urban streets and dusty Western towns, so these stories feature Borges' writing at its starkest -- it's just not as fascinating when he's putting out the facts without his gorgeous descriptions.

But when there's a larger-than-life element, Borges' famed writing unfolds like a rose. The story of Hakim the Weaver seems like something Borges might have dreamed up, had it not been based on reality -- the blinding hubris, the dark new heresy of endless hells and murky heavens, the bejeweled veils and masks, and the terrible secret that this moving prophet is hiding. And he really blooms with the last few stories, all of which come from older stories.

"A Universal History of Iniquity" is interesting for the people it lays before us, but even more so for the beautiful writing that Jorge Luis Borges wraps around them. A few don't work out, but the whole is exquisite.

"Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity - Rated
there is none that doeth good."

Jorge Luis Borges is thought by many to be the 20th century's greatest Spanish-language writer. Borges was a poet, essayist and short story writer. Although born in Argentina in 1899, Borges spent most of his early years in Europe until his family returned to Buenos Aires in 1921. "A Universal History of Iniquity", originally published as "A Universal History of Infamy" was published in 1935. The stories represent a collection of stories originally published in the Argentine newspaper Critica between 1933 and 1934. The stories were a huge success for the newspaper and established Borges as a writer of the first rank in Argentina.

Each of the stories in Universal History of Iniquity was designed by Borges to give his newspaper readers a small glimpse of the evil that men (and sometimes women) do. They vary from slave owning states in the pre-U.S. Civil War south in "The Cruel Redeemer Lazarus Morell", to the China Seas in "The Widow Ching - Pirate", to feudal Japan in "The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kotsuke no Suke", Turkistan in "Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv" and the mean streets of Buenos Aires in "Man on Pink Corner". Borges acknowledges that these stories were all loosely based on little known historical treatises, the Arabian Nights, and other pieces of fiction. Lazarus Morell was clearly an homage to Mark Twain's Mississippi River stories.

Although this is Borges earliest work one can already see the creative, almost whimsical approach he takes to the art of telling a story. He constantly throws the reader off balance and engages in little acts of mis-direction, perhaps starting a story by telling the reader he will not set out the facts behind a story and then proceed to do just that. In the Preface to the First Edition, Borges writes that certain techniques are "overly used: mismatched lists, abrupt transitions, the reduction of a person's life to two or three scenes." While these are certainly valid self-criticisms the reader should remember, as Borges was no doubt aware, that these stories were written for publication in newspapers with severe word limitations. I thought the condensed nature of the stories heightened their impact and think that perhaps Borges was engaging in yet another act of misdirection.

I came to this book after reading Danilo Kis' "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich". The structure and theme of Tomb for Boris Davidovich was intended by Kis to be part of a literary polemic between Kis and Borges, specifically concerning the title of Borge's Universal History of Iniquity. Kis seven stories all involved iniquities performed by those involved in the Stalinist purges of the 1930s, a horror that Kis felt made Borges' iniquities look quaint by comparison. Kis asserted that the universal infamies related by Borges were those of gangsters, pirates and highwaymen. Kis argues that as far as infamy was concerned, "infamy is when in the name of the idea of a better world for which whole generations have perished, in the name of a humanistic idea, you build camps and destroy both people and their most intimate drams of a better world." Now that I have read both books I think this may be something of an apple and oranges comparison. Nevertheless, reading one book enhanced the experience I got from reading the other. If the reader likes Borges' stories they might also enjoy Kis.

I think "A Universal History of Iniquity" is a wonderful entry point for anyone wishing to discover the work of a wonderful, compelling writer.

A pleasure beyond languages - Rated
It is said that Borges was (is) one of the best Spanish-speaking writers of the 20th Century, but, as this book proves, he was (is) one of the best writers of any century in any language.
As "Argentino" who enjoys reading (and re-reading) Borges not only in our common Argentine Spanish, I would prefer a translator who does not use modern American English. Without forgetting Borges' taste for British authors, we must remember that both Shakespeare and Old English were between his hobbies. If you listen to him in his Harvard lectures, published as a book and CD under the name "This Craft of Verse", you will see that his accent is more from Cambridge of UK than from that of Massachusetts. But still, the superb beauty of his writing is beyond any translation tone. Thus, the five stars.

Adventure stories for black magicians - Rated
Not a word can be said against this collection of the early Borges making his first steps towards the "Ficciones" which were his greatest work. Taken from Borges' time on the Revista Multicolor arts magazine in 1930s Buenos Aires, these are adventure stories from the great library of History; twists on real-life characters from the Satanist's "Boys' Own". The distinctive, placid Borges style is in view and aside from including the classic "Man on Pink Corner", the collection includes pieces on Chinese pirates, Spanish magicians, the inhabitants of Hell and even Billy the Kid! Andrew Hurley's translation has the authentic "sabor borgiano" and the notes provided are thorough and helpful.