I think the reason why I immediately fell in love with this book was because of the way Borges manages to analyse a huge variety of infinitely complex themes using his trademark short, concise style. To get an idea of the spectacular diversity of his interests let me give you a quick list of some of the most intriguing essay titles:Īnd if that seems a bit heavy for some people there's also things along the lines of:īut of course, essays make up only a part of this collection, there are also book reviews, film reviews, biographies, prologues and lectures - my favourite being simply titled 'Immortality' (I mean how can you not love this guy? It requires some serious audacity for an 80 year old man to give a lecture on the art of living forever.) You can gain so much from reading so little of Borges' writing that it seems like I may as well write a review now.

In fact that seems like a pretty pointless exercise.

Now, I've only actually owned this book for a couple of days, and to be honest I've only read a few of the hundred plus essays in here, but this isn't exactly a book to be read from beginning to end. I mean this man is so brilliant I'm starting to turn into a dithering fanboy when reading his books. Coetzee said of Borges: 'He, more than anyone, renovated the language of fiction and thus opened the way to a remarkable generation of Spanish American novelists.' His work was translated and published widely in the United States and in Europe. In 1961, he came to international attention when he received the first International Publishers' Prize Prix Formentor.

In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library (Biblioteca Nacional) and professor of Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. He was a target of political persecution during the Peron regime, and supported the military juntas that overthrew it.ĭue to a hereditary condition, Borges became blind in his late fifties. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in Surrealist literary journals. In 1914, his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school and traveled to Spain. Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, usually referred to as Jorge Luis Borges (Spanish pronunciation: ), was an Argentine writer and poet born in Buenos Aires.

Selected non fictions jorge luis borges