Borges: Selected Poems

The largest collection of poetry ever assembled in English by “the most important Spanish-language writer since Cervantes” (Mario Vargas Llosa)

A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition with flaps and deckle-edged paper

Though universally acclaimed for his dazzling fictions, Jorge Luis Borges always considered himself first and foremost a poet. This new bilingual selection brings together some two hundred poems, including scores of poems never previously translated. Edited by Alexander Coleman, it draws from a lifetime's work--from Borges's first published volume of verse, Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923), to his final work, Los conjurados, published just a year before his death in 1986. Throughout this unique collection the brilliance of the Spanish originals is matched by luminous English versions by a remarkable cast of translators, including Robert Fitzgerald, Stephen Kessler, W. S. Merwin, Alastair Reid, Mark Strand, Charles Tomlinson, and John Updike.

For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

“A surfeit of riches . . . Borges’s poetry alone would be enough to underwrite his immense reputation.” —Geoff Dyer, San Francisco Chronicle
 
“An unprecedented and invaluable collection.” —Booklist
 
“A definitive collection . . . True beauty is a rare find. These poems expand the reader’s awareness of language, image, and what it means to live.” —The Santa Fe New Mexican

“For today’s readers, Borges seems to be saying that more mysterious and magical than dreams or other worlds are the voices and words of our loved ones; beauty is a daily revelation, and happiness, the intelligence of understanding and recognition. Borges has become our classic voice of wonder.” —Julio Ortega, Brown University
 
“With Pablo Neruda and Alejo Carpentier, Jorge Luis Borges set in motion the wave of astonishing writing that has given Latin American literature its high place in our time. Yet Borges stands alone, a planet unto himself, resisting categorization. Although literary fashions come and go, he is always there, endlessly re-readable by those who admire him, awaiting rediscovery by new generations of readers.” —Jay Parini, The Nation