Alberto Manguel is the award-winning author of hundreds of works, most recently (in English) Packing My Library: An Elegy and Ten Digressions, Curiosity and All Men Are Liars. He lives in New York. Read more of his work at manguel.com and geist.com.
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Alberto Manguel
Beginning at the Beginning
To teach us how to read Don Quixote, a text so contrary to conventional literary tradition, the prologue itself needed to break from all traditions Read more
Hoping Against Hope
Kafka’s writing allows us intuitions and half-dreams but never total comprehension. Read more
The Armenian Question
"Sometimes, in politics or history, certain words, certain names are sufficient unto themselves: it is as if there were names that once pronounced require no further telling." Read more
Fist
Alberto Manguel examines the rich symbology of the fist, a primal symbol of rebellion and grief, across cultures and history. Read more
Not Finishing
"A library is never finished, only abandoned." Alberto Manguel on incompletion, voluntary interruption and the pleasure of the day before. Read more
A Novel for All Times
Alberto Manguel's column from Geist 93 about how the most important Turkish novelist of modern times took over fifty years to reach English-speaking audiences. Read more
The author, age fifteen, Patagonia
Face in the Mirror
What does it mean to "be" yourself? The face reflected in the mirror is unrecognizable. Read more
Neighbourhood of Letters
There are imaginary cities for scientists, vampires, lechers and even bad students—but what about writers? Read more
Paul Joseph
A Brief History of Tags
A reflection on the complex and often inexplicable process of bibliographic categorizations. Read more
Yehuda Elberg: In Memoriam
A writer whose work is among the most important contributions to the literature of the Holocaust is forgotten by almost all. Read more
How to Talk About Books We Haven’t Read, Part Two
I’ve now read Comment parler des livres que l’on n’a pas lus? and I’m happy to say that I was right. Read more
Photo: Hobvias Sudoneighm
Power to the Reader
"Since the beginning of time (the telling of which is also a story), we have known that words are dangerous creatures." Read more
Tower of Babel (1563) by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526/1530-1569)
Observer and Observed
Alberto Manguel reflects on art as a witness to the human desire to be infinite and eternal. Read more
Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston
Facing the Camera
How much does a photograph really capture the essence of a person? Read more
Cri de Coeur
Compared to today's vile heros, Ned Kelly-the Australian outlaw who wrote the angry, articulate Jerilderie letter in 1879-seems as innocent as an ogre-slaughtering hero of fairy tales. Read more
Metamorphoses
Alberto Manguel compares his life in the French countryside to that of Cain, whom God despised for being a settled crop farmer, and whom he punished by forcing him to wander. Read more
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