A Universal History of Infamy  

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A Universal History of Infamy, or A Universal History of Iniquity, (original Spanish title: Historia universal de la infamia) is a collection of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges, first published in 1935, and revised by the author in 1954. Most were published individually in the newspaper Critica between 1933-4.

The stories (except Hombre de la esquina rosada) are fictionalised accounts of real criminals. The sources are listed at the end of the book.

Two English translations exist, the first from 1972 and the second from 1999 (part of a collected edition, published as a separate book in 2004).

The 1972 English edition (A Universal History of Infamy, ISBN 0-525-47546-X) was translated by Norman Thomas di Giovanni. The 2004 English edition (A Universal History of Iniquity, ISBN 0-14-243789-1), translated by Andrew Hurley, was published by Penguin Classics, a division of British publisher Penguin Books.

Borges was reluctant to authorise a translation. In his preface to the 1954 edition, Borges distanced himself somewhat from the book, which he gave as an example of the baroque, "when art flaunts and squanders its resources"; he wrote that "they are the irresponsible sport of a shy sort of man who could not bring himself to write short stories, and so amused himself by changing and distorting (sometimes without aesthetic justification) the stories of other men" and that "under all the storm and lightning, there is nothing."

Many arbitrary alterations are made in the retellings, particularly to dates and names, and they cannot be relied upon as historical; in particular, The Disinterested Killer diverges from its source material.

Contents

Original Spanish title English (1972) English (2004) Central characters
El atroz redentor Lazarus Morell The Dread Redeemer Lazarus Morell The Cruel Redeemer Lazarus Morell John Murrell
El impostor inverosímil Tom Castro Tom Castro, the Implausible Imposter The Improbable Imposter Tom Castro Arthur Orton
La viuda Ching, pirata The Widow Ching, Lady Pirate The Widow Ching – Pirate Ching Shih
El proveedor de iniquidades Monk Eastman Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities Monk Eastman
El asesino desinteresado Bill Harrigan The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan Billy the Kid
El incivil maestro de ceremonias Kotsuké no Suké The Insulting Master of Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké Kira Yoshinaka
El tintorero emmascarado Hákim de Merv The Masked Dyer, Hakim of Merv Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv Al-Muqanna
Hombre de la esquina rosada Streetcorner Man Man on Pink Corner
Etcétera Et cetera Et cetera
Un teólogo en la muerte A Theologian in Death A Theologian in Death
La cámara de las estatuas The Chamber of Statues The Chamber of Statues
Historia de los dos que soñaron Tale of the Two Dreamers The Story of the Two Dreamers
El espejo de tinta The Mirror of Ink The Mirror of Ink
Un doble de Mahoma (added 1954) A Double for Mohammed Mahomed's Double
El enemigo generoso (added 1954) The Generous Enemy The Generous Enemy
Del rigor en la ciencia (added 1954) On Exactitude in Science On Exactitude in Science

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "A Universal History of Infamy" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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