A Universal History of Infamy

Jorge Luis Borges · 1899–1986 · Argentina

Originally Historia universal de la infamia (Spanish)

Why it matters

Seven pulpy 'biographies' of real gangsters, pirates, and impostors, each embellished past all fact into pure invention. Borges's first fiction, half journalism and half hoax, already rehearsing the games with forgery and false authorship that Ficciones would perfect.

At a glance

Breezy, pulp-inflected prose makes this the most approachable entry point into Borges.