The Book of Imaginary Beings

Jorge Luis Borges is one of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century, having largely shaped the landscape of contemporary literature. His penchant for all manner of anthologies, encyclopedias, and bestiaries is well known. “It is a mysterious love for everything that exists without us,” he wrote in the poem “Upon Buying an Encyclopedia.” In 1950, Borges, in collaboration with Margarita Guerrero, published the “Manual of Fantastic Zoology,” which, after several expansions, took its definitive form under the title “The Book of Imaginary Beings.”