The Borges I first encountered was the intellectual lecturer and essayist of Seven Nights. Later I marveled at his mystical, fantastical short stories found in Labyrinths, Ficciones, and The Aleph. The scholarly researcher was most clearly revealed by The Book of Imaginary Beings, and the poet by Dreamtigers. Now with this short collection, Doctor Brodie's Report, I have discovered yet another dimension of the remarkable Borges.

These short stories are more pragmatic, more straight-forwardly constructed, and more journalistic in their structure than his earlier imaginative stories on which his reputation is largely founded. In many cases these later tales involve some violence. Rivalries and duels, historical military accounts, and seamy slums are found in these works by the more realistic Borges. However, two stories - The Gospel According to Mark and the title story, Doctor Brodie's Report - are more imaginative, and thus classically Borgesian in their outlook.

Doctor Brodie's Report (1970) consists of only eleven stories:

The Intruder (1966) - a rivalry between brothers, The Meeting (1969) - a duel manipulated by the weapons themselves, Rosendo's Tale (1969) - a duel avoided, Doctor Brodie's Report (1970) - classic Borgesian imagination, The Duel (1970) - aristocratic, artistic rivalry, The Elder Lady (1970) - a disturbing biographical account, The End of the Duel (1970) - an actual event unbelievable as fiction, The Gospel According to Mark (1970) - a shocking story of forgiveness, Guayaquil (1970) - old rivalries surface in unexpected setting, Juan Murana (1970) - cherished love leads to fatal violence, and The Unworthy Friend (1970) - an account of betrayal, perhaps biographical.

Borges - in collaboration with Norman Thomas di Giovanni - translated these stories into English more or less simultaneously as they were written. I was familiar with The Intruder and Rosendo's Tale from The Aleph and Other Stories, 1933-1969. The others were entirely new to me. All stories are quite exceptional.

It is difficult to give less than five stars to Borges, but fairness requires an occasional four stars, if only to separate the truly superb Borges from simply exceptional Borges.

My copy is a 1978 softcover reprint edition by E. P. Dutton publishers (ISBN 0-525-47541-9). It contains a short Forward and the Preface to the First Edition (1970).