Povestirile ce compun acest volum au fost publicate in cel mai mare secret, fara a le fi atribuite celor doi autori. Numai prima culegere, Sase probleme pentru don Isidro Parodi a fost pusa in vinzare. Celelalte au fost incredintate tiparului in 1946, pe socoteala autorilor, si parte din ele nu au mai fost reeditate. Lectura acestui volum va constitui o mare surpriza. Caci despre argoul de mucava in care sint scrise povestirile, trebuie spus ca cei doi au practicat un lunfardo (argoul marginalului din Buenos Aires) de opereta, in cea mai mare parte inventat chiar de ei, vehicol plin de haz, umor si fantezie, al binecunoscutelor jocuri literare borgesiene. Perfect similar cu un sugestiv decor de mucava. „Pentru ca e o lume a insolitului si a imaginarului, lumea lui Borges n-are miracole. Spiritul le neglijeaza, repudiindu-le chiar, ca pe orice solutie comoda. Lui ii trebuie, oricit de departe s-ar duce, sa inteleaga si sa integreze. Totul se petrece, de fapt, intr-un spirit care umple cochilia evenimentului, a faptului adeverit, a citatiei livresti, a intrigii politiste, a vederii filozofice sau metafizice, a descoperirii stiintifice, parca pentru a incerca legile straniei functionari, redindu-i tot umorul logic – nelinistitor si tulburator, tocmai pentru ca e logic – de care este plin. Retorica nu are nici un amestec aici, iar scrierea insasi se denunta ca un ultim mijloc. El e sigur ca descoperirea a precedat expresia.” (Maurice Nadeau)
Authors
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, usually referred to as Jorge Luis Borges (Spanish pronunciation: [xoɾxe lwis boɾxes]), was an Argentine writer and poet born in Buenos Aires. In 1914, his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school and traveled to Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in Surrealist literary journals. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer. Borges was fluent in several languages. He was a target of political persecution during the Peron regime, and supported the military juntas that overthrew it. Due to a hereditary condition, Borges became blind in his late fifties. In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library (Biblioteca Nacional) and professor of Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. In 1961, he came to international attention when he received the first International Publishers' Prize Prix Formentor. His work was translated and published widely in the United States and in Europe. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1986. J. M. Coetzee said of Borges: "He, more than anyone, renovated the language of fiction and thus opened the way to a remarkable generation of Spanish American novelists."
