Labyrinths

This 1964 New Directions edition represents the definitive introduction of Jorge Luis Borges to English-language readers, published just after he won the International Publishers' Prize alongside Samuel Beckett. Edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby, with an introduction by André Maurois, Labyrinths assembles the Argentine master's most celebrated fictions and essays in translations that capture his metaphysical imagination.

The volume includes iconic stories like "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," "The Garden of Forking Paths," and "The Library of Babel"—narratives that revolutionized twentieth-century literature with their philosophical depth, labyrinthine structures, and self-referential complexity. Borges's densely layered prose influenced generations of writers, from Umberto Eco to contemporary magical realists, establishing what critics now call "Borgesian" writing.

This augmented 1964 paperback, expanded from the original 1962 edition, draws from Ficciones and El Aleph for its stories, and from Otras inquisiciones for its essays. The New Directions edition became the standard text for introducing Borges's visionary work to American readers, making this vintage paperback both historically significant and intrinsically compelling.

Publishing Details: New Directions Publishing, New York, 1964. Augmented edition. Paperback. Preface by André Maurois, introduction by James E. Irby.