Jorge Luis Borges
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| Maurois was mostly correct; Borges read everything, but there was a lot he didn't finish, including "The Brothers Karamazov," "Madame Bovary," Proust and Thomas Mann. A great deal of highfalutin American and European writers left little or no impression on him (the major exception being the French symbolist poets, especially Paul Valéry). The last great modernist of 20th century literature drew his primary inspiration not from other modernists but from styles and modes of literature (fables, folk tales, ancient epics) that had become proud words on dusty shelves and from writers of prose and poetry such as H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, G.K. Chesterton (particularly the Father Brown mysteries), [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], the Irish [[fabulist]] [[Lord Dunsany]], and Argentine "[[gaucho]]" poets, writers who, for one reason or another, Western literature had relegated to the twilight realm of the praised but unread. He preferred [[genre literature]] to the deep-dish classics. --"Borges: A Life" by [[Edwin Williamson]] via http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2004/08/27/borges/index_np.html?pn=3 [Jan 2007] | Maurois was mostly correct; Borges read everything, but there was a lot he didn't finish, including "The Brothers Karamazov," "Madame Bovary," Proust and Thomas Mann. A great deal of highfalutin American and European writers left little or no impression on him (the major exception being the French symbolist poets, especially Paul Valéry). The last great modernist of 20th century literature drew his primary inspiration not from other modernists but from styles and modes of literature (fables, folk tales, ancient epics) that had become proud words on dusty shelves and from writers of prose and poetry such as H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, G.K. Chesterton (particularly the Father Brown mysteries), [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], the Irish [[fabulist]] [[Lord Dunsany]], and Argentine "[[gaucho]]" poets, writers who, for one reason or another, Western literature had relegated to the twilight realm of the praised but unread. He preferred [[genre literature]] to the deep-dish classics. --"Borges: A Life" by [[Edwin Williamson]] via http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2004/08/27/borges/index_np.html?pn=3 [Jan 2007] | ||
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| + | James Woodall and Edwin Williamson have both written biographies of Borges, both of which are titled ''[[Borges, a Life]]''. Their investigations of his actual relationships and his personal correspondence elaborate on the debate surrounding Borges' sexuality. | ||
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
| *''[[The Book of Fantasy]]'' | *''[[The Book of Fantasy]]'' | ||
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Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986), was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. Best-known in the English speaking world for his short stories and fictive essays, Borges was also a poet, critic, translator and man of letters. He was influenced by authors such as Dante Alighieri, Miguel de Cervantes, Franz Kafka, H.G. Wells and G. K. Chesterton.
No other author in the twentieth century has more successfully blended the the lines of demarcation that separates what seems real from what seems fantastic, blurring the lines between fict and faction, a genre we now call faction.
Notes
- His favorite film director was Josef von Sternberg, whom he called a "cinematic novelist".
- "I do not write for a select minority, which means nothing to me, nor for that adulated platonic entity known as 'The Masses'. Both abstractions, so dear to the demagogue, I disbelieve in. I write for myself and for my friends, and I write to ease the passing of time." — Introduction to The Book of Sand
- Animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off look like flies. --The Analytical Language of John Wilkins
- André Maurois ... wrote, "His sources are innumerable and unexpected. Borges had read everything, and especially what nobody reads anymore[emphasis mine]: the Kabalists, the Alexandrine Greeks, medieval philosophers. His erudition is not profound -- he asks of it only flashes of lightning and ideas -- but it is vast."
Maurois was mostly correct; Borges read everything, but there was a lot he didn't finish, including "The Brothers Karamazov," "Madame Bovary," Proust and Thomas Mann. A great deal of highfalutin American and European writers left little or no impression on him (the major exception being the French symbolist poets, especially Paul Valéry). The last great modernist of 20th century literature drew his primary inspiration not from other modernists but from styles and modes of literature (fables, folk tales, ancient epics) that had become proud words on dusty shelves and from writers of prose and poetry such as H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, G.K. Chesterton (particularly the Father Brown mysteries), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the Irish fabulist Lord Dunsany, and Argentine "gaucho" poets, writers who, for one reason or another, Western literature had relegated to the twilight realm of the praised but unread. He preferred genre literature to the deep-dish classics. --"Borges: A Life" by Edwin Williamson via http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2004/08/27/borges/index_np.html?pn=3 [Jan 2007]
James Woodall and Edwin Williamson have both written biographies of Borges, both of which are titled Borges, a Life. Their investigations of his actual relationships and his personal correspondence elaborate on the debate surrounding Borges' sexuality.
See also
