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Jorge Luis Borges: A Literary Biography
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
March 5, 2024
Informed and well written biography of a fascinating writer. Monegal was well acquainted with the author and many important figures in Borges’ life, and it shows.
Insights into less well known details of Borges life (like his Europe years when he was young) are unique to this biography, as far as I know. There is also a very thorough description and categorization of Borges’ influences. Borges’ own account of who his main influences had been changed from time to time but ERM does a good job of seeing through that and choosing the main ones.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this biography, however, is ERM’s playful utilization of Georgie, Borges and “Borges” as different characters in the book (a m strategy that is evident in the book’s cover), which also is a hint to Borges own writing about “the other”.
The occasional psychoanalytic reading of Borges’ work aged pretty badly and I found it very arbitrary and distractive.
Insights into less well known details of Borges life (like his Europe years when he was young) are unique to this biography, as far as I know. There is also a very thorough description and categorization of Borges’ influences. Borges’ own account of who his main influences had been changed from time to time but ERM does a good job of seeing through that and choosing the main ones.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this biography, however, is ERM’s playful utilization of Georgie, Borges and “Borges” as different characters in the book (a m strategy that is evident in the book’s cover), which also is a hint to Borges own writing about “the other”.
The occasional psychoanalytic reading of Borges’ work aged pretty badly and I found it very arbitrary and distractive.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review