Card 14266 X6 Pk Dyes [Paperback]

Colin Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1974

'Through the years, a man peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, tools, stars, horses and people. Shortly before his death, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the image of his own face'. These words, inseparably marrying life and work, encapsulate how Jorge Luis Borges interwove the two throughout his legendary literary career. But the Borges of popular imagination is the celebrated, blind librarian and man of letters; few biographers have explored his tumultuous early life in the streets and cafes of Buenos Aires, a young man searching for his path in the world. In "Jorge Luis Borges", Jason Wilson uncovers the young poet who wrote, loved, and lost with adventurous passion, and considers the later work, life and travels of the writer who claimed to have never created a character: 'It's always me, subtly disguised'. Born in Buenos Aires in 1899, Jorge Luis Borges was a voracious reader from childhood, perhaps in part because he knew he lived under a sentence of adult-onset blindness inherited from his father. Wilson chronicles Borges' life as he raced against time and his fated blindness, charting the literary friendships, love affairs and polemical writings that formed the foundation of his youth. Illuminating the connections running between the biography and fictions of Borges, Wilson traces the outline of this self-effacing literary figure. Though in his later writings Borges would subjugate emotion to the wild play of ideas, "Jorge Luis Borges" reminds us that he was always a poet whose life was recreated subtly in his work but never in confessional ways and restores his Argentine roots. It will be an invaluable resource for all those who treasure this modern master.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Accessible. . . . Wilson examines the influence of Buddhism on Borges, and reveals how his unique writing style was shaped by early exposure to Europe, as well as the bitchy Buenos Aires literary scene."--The Guardian

 

 

(Ian Pindar The Guardian ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jason Wilson is professor of Latin American literature at the University College, London. He is the author of Octavio Paz: A Study of His Poetics, An A-Z of Modern Latin American Literature in English Translation, and Buenos Aires: A Cultural and Literary Companion.

 

 

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 12 pages
• Publisher: Village Press (1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0904247074
• ISBN-13: 978-0904247077
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,877,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Short Biography of Borges, October 8, 2006

By 

James Paris "Tarnmoor" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jorge Luis Borges (Reaktion Books - Critical Lives) (Paperback)

Those of us who have followed the writing career of Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) from outside of Argentina have seen him primarily as the pathetic old blind man grasping on to the arms of his visitors as they wended their way to some café in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires. What this excellent short biography by Jason Wilson reminds us is that Borges was at one time a dashing young man who lived through exciting times.

At the same time, he always lived with his mother. It was not until Doña Leonora died at an advanced age that Borges contracted marriage with Maria Kodama, a younger student of his who was willing to "do" for him in his old age. There is even some question as to whether the author ever had a normal sexual life outside of dealings with prostitutes, which went against his grain, especially after his father forcibly precipitated his sexual experience with his own mistress in a Geneva brothel.

Perhaps Borges felt there was a congenital doom in his family. His father, too, had gone blind; but surgery corrected his vision a few years before he committed suicide. These are not conditions that are conducive to a normal, happy and healthy sex drive.

What Borges lacked in that department is more than made up for the power of his imagination. During an almost Buddhist burst of contemplation in the late 1930s and early 1940s--just before his own blindness set in--Borges completed most of the poems and stories for which he is famous. The sad truth is that, after Borges became known outside of Argentina, his career was in decline. He continued to write, but never so much or so well as before.

Nonetheless, he was the recipient of many international awards--except for the biggest one of all. Because he met with, smiled, and shook the hands of two South American tyrants, Generals Videla of Argentina and Pinochet Ugarte of Chile, a member of the Swedish Academy resolved to blackball Borges every time his name came up for nomination. (It galls me that so many inferior talents have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but then, that's politics for you.)

Jason Wilson has written a short but sweet book that I heartily recommend to everyone who loves Borges as much as I do. Ever since 1969, when I first read LABYRINTHS, Borges has in a sense been my mentor in the world of literature; and I feel that Wilson has written an incisive and just book about this great author.