What was his bequest to readers? “I think the phrase ‘compulsory reading’ is nonsense; reading should not be compulsory. It’s like saying compulsory pleasure. But is there compulsory pleasure? Pleasure is something that is sought. Or compulsory happiness! We seek happiness too.”
Jorge Luis Borges was a short story writer, essayist, poet, translator, and a key figure in Spanish-language literature. His best-known books of short stories, Ficciones and El Aleph, published in the 1940s, are collections of short stories linked by common themes, including dreams, labyrinths, libraries, mirrors, fictional writers, philosophies, and religions. In 1923 he published his first book of poetry, Fervor de Buenos Aires, and two years later his second book, Luna de Enfrente. The most important events in his biography are closely linked to some of his predecessors. Coming from a family of scholars and soldiers, Borges chose literature although he was for a long time embarrassed by the fact that he did not choose the army.
THE DISEASE HE USED TO CREATE
From 1914 to 1921 he lived with his family in Europe. He began his studies first in Geneva and then in Spain, where he became better acquainted with literature and wrote some of his first poems. In 1925 Borges met Victoria Ocampo, his muse for many years, whom he married 40 years later. With her, Borges had an intellectual understanding destined to enter the mythology of Argentine literature. Borges’s journalistic activity was very extensive. The verses of “Cauderno San Martìn” were published only in 1929, while a year later “Evaristo Karriego” was published, a work that enthusiastically delighted Argentine critics. Another misfortune in the writer’s life: he went blind. Borges, who had always had problems with his eyes, finally lost his sight in the late 50s after having undergone 9 operations.
But he used this illness to create even more. He reached the peak of this process of “sublimation” in 1933 and 1934. All the stories he published in the magazine “Kritika” were published in a single collection under the title “Historia universal de la infamia” (Universal History of Infamy), which was followed a few years later by “Historia de la eternidad” (History of Eternity), a work that combines history and wisdom. “Annus horribilis” (from Latin terrible year): The year 1938. It began with the death of Borges’ father, then the writer himself suffered an accident that forced him to stay immobile for a long time, and then an attack of sepsis (blood disease) that seriously threatened his life. This dramatic situation provoked in Borges the fear that he might lose his creative abilities forever. Unfounded fear: during the years when he was ill he created some of his masterpieces, which were published in 1944 under the title “Pretense”.
CREATIVITY
After 5 years, some of his stories were published in the book titled “Alef”. During this period, Borges was considered one of the best Argentine writers of all time. As if to once again affirm his abilities, Borges published another masterpiece entitled “The Other Inquisitions” (1952). In 1955, Borges was appointed director of the National Library, one of his early dreams. In the speech on the occasion, he said: “It is a sublime and divine irony that I am given 800 thousand books when I have been in complete darkness for years”. After 31 years as director, he passed away on June 14, 1986. Next to his grave are the remains of Borges’ second wife, María Kodama. Many directors have based their films on his life, and one of the most notable is “Estela Kanto, Un Amor de Borges”, directed by Javier Torre (1999), where the protagonist is the beautiful Ines Sastre.
But what was his bequest to readers? “I think the phrase ‘compulsory reading’ is nonsense; reading should not be compulsory. It’s like saying compulsory pleasure. But is there compulsory pleasure? Pleasure is something that is sought. Or compulsory happiness! We also seek happiness. I was a professor of English literature for twenty years at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires and I always advised my students: if a book bothers you, leave it; don’t read a book because it is famous, because it is modern, or because it is old.
If a book is boring to you, stop reading it; whether it is Paradise Lost – for me it is not boring – or Don Quixote – for me it is not boring either. But if there is a book that is boring to you, do not read it; that book was not written for you. Reading should be one of the forms of happiness, so I want to leave readers as a possible bequest – bequest that I do not intend to write: read a lot, without being afraid of the reputation of the authors, continue to seek a personal happiness, a personal satisfaction. It is the only way to read”, Borges said.
