Borges. A life

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Jorge Luis Borges is a seminal figure in twentieth-century literature, profoundly influencing narrative art and the writing process. His impact is evident in postwar fiction, from García Márquez to Eco, despite Borges not writing a single novel. Born in Argentina to cosmopolitan parents, he developed a love for literature and an active imagination. After spending his youth in Europe, he returned to Buenos Aires in the late 1930s to pursue a writing career. His renowned collections, Ficciones and El Aleph, are known for their cryptic and imaginative storytelling, becoming benchmarks for Latin American fiction and paving the way for Magic Realism. However, Borges's fame grew slowly, and his work was not fully recognized until the 1960s. Living with his mother and facing political unpopularity, he gained international attention in his later years until his death in 1986. The first English biography since his passing reveals a complex man who shunned fame and was unaware of the literary revolution he inspired. Based on firsthand research in Buenos Aires, James Woodall portrays Borges as a young poet obsessed with Walt Whitman, a timid intellectual in love, and a literary guru seeking domestic happiness, while also exploring the dramatic backdrop of Buenos Aires during this period and Borges's dual obsessions: his celibate love for women and his disdain for Juan Perón.