A Universal History of Infamy

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A Universal History of Infamy by Jorge Luis Borges.

Published in 1935 by Editorial Tor, Historia universal de la infamia is a collection of sketches that first appeared in Crítica, a Buenos Aires newspaper, from August 1933 to January 1934 (though The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan was penned specifically for the collection.)

Consisting of “falsifications and distortions” of stories Borges read elsewhere, Borges uses these primary sources to mask his first forays into literary invention, freely adapting the “true” stories for his own creative purposes. Influenced by his reading of Robert Louis Stevenson and G. K. Chesterton as well as the gangster films of von Sternberg, the tales are lurid but cheerfully ironic, filled with sudden violence, paradox and the occasional twist. While not considered part of the “mature” Borges canon, these works of tentative fiction nevertheless clearly display the elements of the “Borgesian” style that would come to fruition in Ficciones. Historia universal de la infamia is also notable for its inclusion of Hombre de la esquina rosada, an entirely original story about a knife-wielding compradito. Translated by di Giovanni as Streetcorner Man, this violent tale brought Borges some notoriety, though it was originally written under a pseudonym of “Francisco Bustos”. Although Borges would later look upon it wryly as a “laboured composition”, it marks his first attempt at completely original fiction, and has been much anthologized over the years.

Borges revised Historia universal de la infamia in 1954, at which time he added three additional pieces to the “Et cetera” section – Mahomed’s Double, The Generous Enemy and On Exactitude in Science. He also wrote a second preface in which he attempted to distance himself from the sketches, calling them the “irresponsible games” of a “shy young man”.

The first English translation of Historia universal de la infamia was published by E. P. Dutton, who commissioned Norman Thomas di Giovanni to work closely with Borges to produce faithful translations. (Details of this project may be found below, under The Aleph and Other Stories, the first such volume released by Dutton.) The 1972 edition gives the following contents, identical to the 1954 Spanish edition:

  • The Dread Redeemer Lazarus Morell
  • Tom Castro, the Implausible Imposter
  • The Widow Ching, Lady Pirate
  • Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities
  • The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan
  • The Insulting Master of Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké
  • The Masked Dyer, Hakim of Merv
  • Streetcorner Man
  • Et cetera, including: A Theologian in Death, The Chamber of Statues, Tale of the Two Dreamers, The Wizard Postponed, The Mirror of Ink, A Double for Mohammed, The Generous Enemy and On Exactitude in Science.
  • Index of Sources

The Dutton edition was picked up by Allen Lane/Penguin in England and an Allen Lane UK version came out in 1973; in 1975 it was copyrighted by Penguin, which kept it in print in the UK long after the American original went out of print. In 1999 Andrew Hurley produced a new translation for Viking’s Collected Fictions. Restoring the “pink corner” back to Hombre de la esquina rosada, Hurley also retitled the collection A Universal History of Iniquity. In 2004, Penguin finally published it as a separate book.

  • The Cruel Redeemer Lazarus Morell
  • The Improbable Imposter Tom Castro
  • The Widow Ching – Pirate
  • Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities
  • The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan
  • The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké
  • Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv
  • Man on Pink Corner
  • Et cetera, including: A Theologian in Death, The Chamber of Statues, The Story of the Two Dreamers, The Wizard That Was Made To Wait, *The Mirror of Ink, Mahomed’s Double, The Generous Enemy, and On Exactitude in Science.
  • Index of Sources

As a final note, there is a reversal that would have made Borges smile in amusement. In a case of student surpassing his teacher, Thunder’s Mouth Press uses an excerpt from Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities as the foreword for their recent edition of Herbert Asbury’s Gangs of New York, the very book that inspired Borges’ sketch in the first place!

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