In his writing, Borges always combined high seriousness with a wicked sense of fun. Here he reveals his delight in re-creating (or making up) colorful stories from the Orient, the Islamic world, and the Wild West, as well as his horrified fascination with knife fights, political and personal betrayal, and bloodthirsty revenge. Sparkling with the sheer exuberant pleasure of story-telling, this collection marked the emergence of an utterly distinctive literary voice.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 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.

"Hurley’s efforts at retranslating Borges are not anything but heroic. His versions are clear, elegant, crystalline." —Ilan Stavans, The Times Literary Supplement

"[Borges’s] stories often take the outer form of some genre from popular literature, a form proved by long usage, which creates almost mythical structures." —Italo Calvino

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) was an Argentine poet, essayist, and author of short stories. His most notable works as a key literary Spanish-language figure of the twentieth century include Ficciones (Fictions) and El Aleph (The Aleph). He received a BA from the College of Geneva. He was also appointed the director of the National Public Library and professor of English literature at the University of Buenos Aries in 1955. During his lifetime, Borges received the first Prix International Formentor Prize which he shared alongside Samuel Beckett in 1961. He also received the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society in 1971. View titles by Jorge Luis Borges

A Universal History of IniquityIntroduction by Andrew Hurley

A Universal History of Iniquity (1935)
Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the 1954 Edition
The Cruel Redeemer Lazarus Morell
The Improbable Impostor Tom Castro
The Widow Ching—Pirate
Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities
The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan
The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kôsuké no Suké
Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv
Man on Pink Corner
Et cetera
Index of Sources

A Note on the Translation
Acknowledgments
Notes to the Fictions

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Reviews

"Hurley’s efforts at retranslating Borges are not anything but heroic. His versions are clear, elegant, crystalline." —Ilan Stavans, The Times Literary Supplement

"[Borges’s] stories often take the outer form of some genre from popular literature, a form proved by long usage, which creates almost mythical structures." —Italo Calvino