A Universal History of Infamy

work by Borges

Also known as: “Historia universal de la infamia”

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July 16, 2026

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A Universal History of Infamy is a collection of short stories by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, first published in 1935. The work features sketches of various historical and legendary figures, often focusing on their more infamous deeds and lives. Borges's approach in this collection is to retell the stories of these individuals, exploring themes of fate, identity, and the nature of reality through their experiences. This book is considered an early work in Borges's career, preceding his more famous collections like Ficciones.1

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Jorge Luis Borges
Life
…universal de la infamia (1935; A Universal History of Infamy). To earn his living, he took a major post in 1938 at a Buenos Aires library named for one of his ancestors. He remained there for nine unhappy years.
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…universal de la infamia (1935; A Universal History of Infamy). To earn his living, he took a major post in 1938 at a Buenos Aires library named for one of his ancestors. He remained there for nine unhappy years.
Read More

Latin American literature
The modern novel
…universal de la infamia (1935; A Universal History of Infamy), in which he began to experiment with apocryphal attributions and bogus bibliographies. Deceptively simple, the stories are about adventuresome and variously criminal protagonists, crime and villainy being a constant in Borges’s fiction. But Borges’s decisive collection was Ficciones (1944; English…
Read More
…universal de la infamia (1935; A Universal History of Infamy), in which he began to experiment with apocryphal attributions and bogus bibliographies. Deceptively simple, the stories are about adventuresome and variously criminal protagonists, crime and villainy being a constant in Borges’s fiction. But Borges’s decisive collection was Ficciones (1944; English…
Read More