Borges A Life

by Williamson, Edwin

• ISBN13: 9780143035565
• ISBN10: 0143035568
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-26
• Publisher: Penguin Books

Summary

Edwin Williamson’s major new biography is the first in any language to encompass the entire span of Jorge Luis Borges’s life and work. Drawing upon previously unknown or unavailable sources, it brings out the human side of Borges: his roots in Argentina, the evolution of his political ideas, his relations with family and friends, the conflicts, desires, and obsessions that drove the man and shaped his work. Williamson’s definitive biography finally unlocks the mysteries that still surround the life of Borges, resulting in a compelling and poignant portrait that will radically transform established views of this modern master.

Author Biography

Edwin Williamson is the King Alfonso XIII Professor of Spanish at Oxford University and a fellow of Exeter College. His books include The Penguin History of Latin America.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART ONE: The Sword and the Dagger (1899-1921)	1	(90)
1. Family and Nation	3	(14)
2. Mother and Father	17	(15)
3. Childhood (1899-1914)	32	(23)
4. Geneva (1914-1919)	55	(13)
5. Spain (1919-1921)	68	(23)
PART TWO: A Poet in Love (1921-1934)	91	(114)
6. Buenos Aires (1921-1923)	93	(22)
7. Second Visit to Europe (1923-1924)	115	(15)
8. Adventures in the Avant-Garde (1925)	130	(9)
9. The Aleph (1926)	139	(10)
10. Rejection (1926-1927)	149	(11)
11. Revenge and Defeat (1927-1930)	160	(15)
12. Experiments in Fiction (1930-1932)	175	(16)
13. The Rivals (1933-1934)	191	(14)
PART THREE: A Season in Hell (1934-1944)	205	(68)
14. Failure (1934-1935)	207	(10)
15. Isolation (1936-1937)	217	(13)
16. The Death of Father (1938-1939)	230	(10)
17. The Example of Dante (1939-1940)	240	(16)
18. The Garden of Forking Paths (1940-1944)	256	(17)
PART FOUR: Of Hell and Heaven (1944-1969)	273	(110)
19. The "New Beatrice" (1944-1946)	275	(16)
20. Humiliation and Anguish (1946-1947)	291	(8)
21. False Hopes (1947-1950)	299	(12)
22. Borges Against Perón (1950-1955)	311	(15)
23. La Revolución Libertadora (1955-1959)	326	(16)
24. The Rule of Mother (1958-1963)	342	(13)
25. Deconstructions (1963-1967)	355	(14)
26. Marriage (1967-1968)	369	(14)
PART FIVE: Love Regained (1969-1986)	383	(107)
27. Iceland (1969-1971)	385	(18)
28. Between Sunset and Dawn (1971-1975)	403	(13)
29. A New Dawn in Iceland (1975-1976)	416	(12)
30. Blue Tigers (1976-1979)	428	(13)
31. The Music of Japan (1979-1981)	441	(11)
32. Deconstructing the Nation (1980-1983)	452	(16)
33. The Weaver of Dreams (1984-1985)	468	(13)
34. Creating an End (1985-1986)	481	(9)
Epilogue	490	(3)
Glossary of Argentine Terms	493	(2)
Notes	495	(42)
Bibliography	537	(14)
Index	551