Jorge Luis Borges: a writer on the edge

Abstract

Jorge Luis Borges is generally acknowledged to be one of the 20th century's most significant writers. Yet in all the critical debates on his work, the fact that he is an Argentine writer is rarely discussed, as if his world reputation had somehow cleansed him of nationality. Sarlo argues that these universalist readings leave aside vital aspects of Borges' writing, including his most powerful vision of Argentina's past and its traditions, which placed both the writer and his country at the strange intersection of European and Latin American culture. This examination of the work of Borges is divided into two parts. The first part consists of lectures on Borges' fiction; the second discusses the emergence of the avant-garde and the literary magazines, in order to place his literature in a cultural and ideological context.