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''The Book of Sand'' (original Spanish title: ) is a 1975 short story collection by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986). In the author's opinion, the collection, written in his last days — and while blind — is his best book.〔 ("El cuento y yo", writings by Borges referring to his works )〕〔 (El libro de arena de Jorge Luis Borges - Review )〕 This opinion is not shared by most critics, many of who prefer his other works such as those in ''Ficciones'' (1944). Referring to the collection, Borges said: The first edition, published in Buenos Aires by Emecé, contained 181 pages. In Madrid it was edited that year by Ultramar. Borges opts for an epilogue to this short story collection, different from the cases of his previous collections ''The Garden of Forking Paths'' (1941) and ''Artifices'' (1944) (later republished together in ''Ficciones''), which had a prologue. Regarding this, Borges begins ''The Book of Sand's'' epilogue by saying: "To prologue unread stories is an almost impossible work, as it demands the analysis of plots one should not anticipate. I prefer, thus, an epilogue."〔 ==Content== The work consists essentially of a collection of thirteen short stories (original titles in italics):〔 (Obras, El libro de arena; review by Raúl Alejandro López Nevado ). Borges 1975, 1999, p.143.〕 *The Other (''El Otro'') *Ulrikke (''Ulrica'') *The Congress (''El Congreso'') *''There Are More Things'' (''There Are More Things'') *The Sect of the Thirty (''La Secta de los Treinta'') *The Night of the Gifts (''La noche de los dones'') *The Mirror and the Mask (''El espejo y la máscara'') *''Undr'' (''Undr'') *A Weary Man's Utopia (''Utopía de un hombre que está cansado'') *The Bribe (''El soborno'') *Avelino Arredondo (''Avelino Arredondo'') *The Disk (''El disco'') *The Book of Sand (''El libro de arena'') Amongst these stories the most notable include: The Other, the first story of the collection, in which the protagonist (Borges himself) encounters a younger version of himself (similar to his later short story August 25, 1983), The Congress, on an utopic universal congress (seen by critics as a political essay), There Are More Things, written in memory of H. P. Lovecraft, on an encounter with a monstrous extraterrestrial inhabiting an equally monstrous house,〔 (Análisis de ''There Are More Things'' desde la perspectiva lovecraftiana )〕 ''Undr'', on the maximum poetic synthesis,〔 (Study guide of ''Undr'' )〕 The Sect of the Thirty, on an ancient manuscript that tells of the characteristics of a sect that equally venerated Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot,〔 (Study guide of ''The Sect of the Thirty'' )〕 A Weary Man's Utopia (according to Borges, "the most honest and melancholic piece in the collection"), The Disk, on a one-sided coin, and the titular work The Book of Sand, on a book with infinite pages.〔Borges 1975, 1999, p.140.〕 Evaluating his work, Borges said: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Book of Sand (book)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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