p. 37: [Joseph] Joubert: The great French writer of epigrammatic pensées (1754-1824).
II. 1929-1936
Throughout the 1930s, Borges wrote almost no poetry. The first of his “canonical” non-fiction prose books was Evaristo Carriego (1930)—see note on Carriego above. (The book, considered unsuccessful by both Borges and readers, was greatly improved in its second edition, twenty-five years later, which added “A History of the Tango” [p. 394] and other essays.) A few weeks after its publication, the democratically elected government of Hipolito Irigoyen was overthrown by the military, and Argentina’s “infamous decade” began; Borges would respond with increasing passion to the rising fascism and anti-Semitism of the Argentine bourgeoisie and intelligentsia.
In 1931, Borges’ friend Victoria Ocampo—whom Andre Malraux called the “Em press of the Pampas”—founded Sur, the most important South American literary magazine of the century, and to which Borges would be, in her words, the “chief contributor and adviser” for decades. The 1932 book Discusión [Discussion] marks the beginning of Borges’ most fertile and enduring non-fiction writing, a period that would end with his blindness in 1956. The following year, he took a job as literary editor of the “Saturday Color Magazine” of the tabloid newspaper Critica, to which he contributed articles, translations of authors ranging from Chesterton to Novalis, and, under a pseudonym, his first short stories, including “Hombre de Ia esquina rosada” (known in English as “Streetcorner Man” or “Man on Pink Corner”), and the fictionalized biographies that would be collected in Historia universal de Ia infamia [Universal History of Infamy, 1935 ] . His next book of essays, Historia de Ia eternidad [ History of Eternity, 1936], played a metaphysical joke on its readers by including “The Approach to al-Mu’tasim,” a review of a fictional book (it would later be moved to Ficciones). By 1936, Borges was the best-known young poet and essayist in Argentina; literary magazines had devoted special supplements to his work. Yet his reputation did not extend beyond a small circle in Buenos Aires: Eternidad, for example, sold exactly thirty-seven copies in its first year.
The Perpetual Race of Achilles and the Tortoise
“La perpetua carrera de Aquiles y Ia tortuga,” La Prensa, 1 Jan. 1929. Included in Discusión.
Another, better known version of this essay is the 1939 “Avatares de Ia tortuga” [Avatars of the Tortoise] , which is included in Otras inqusiciones.
The Duration of Hell
“La duración del infierno,” Sintesis no. 25, June 1929. Included in Discusión.
The Superstitious Ethics of the Reader
“La supersticiosa ética del lector,” Azul no. 8, Jan. 1931. Included in Discusión.
p. 53: Guzman de Alfarache: The 1599 novel by Mateo Aleman that started the craze for the picaresque novel.
Our Inabilities
“Nuestras imposibilidades,” Sur no. 4, Spring 1931. Included in the first edition of Discusión, where it was the first essay, but omitted from later editions. Not in the Complete Works.
p. 56: a Russian: In Argentina, ruso [Russian] was a derogatory word for an Ashkenazi Jew. (Sephardic Jews, with similar exactitude, were turcos, Turks.) Borges continues to play with this confusion later in the essay when he refers to “Russian gold.”
p. 56: the pseudo-serious: Borges uses the word seriola and puts it in quotation marks. The word is found in no dictionary, and only one Spanish speaker I consulted knew what it meant. According to the Argentine painter Cesar Paternosto, “ola” was a slang suffix indicating disbelief in Buenos Aires in the 1920s and 1930S.
p. 57: the Italian immigrant: Borges uses the word gringo, which in Argentina once referred to Italians, not North Americans.
p. 57: Hallelujah: The 1929 King Vidor film, featuring an all-African-American cast.
p. 57: one of von Sternberg’s heroic films: Underworld (1927).
The Postulation of Reality
“La postulación de Ia realidad;’ Azul no. 10, June 1931. Included in Discusión.
p. 59: Hume noted . . . : The first half of this sentence reappears in the 1940 story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” where Borges notes that it is entirely true on earth and entirely false on Tlön.
p. 60: Don Quixote: The translation cited is Tobias Smollett’s 1755 version. p. 61: Lehrjahre: Goethe’s 1796 novel, The Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister. p. 63: Enrique Larreta: Argentine novelist (1875-1961). His 1908 historical neoWalter Scott novel, La gloria de Don Ramiro [The Glory of Don Ramiro], mixes narration in contemporary Spanish with dialogue in the archaic.
p. 63: [George] Moore: The Anglo-Irish novelist (1852-1933) and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, who wrote some French poems in his youth.
A Defense of Basilides the False
“Una vindicación del falso Basilides.” Published under the title “Una vindicación de los gnósticos” [A Defense of the Gnostics] in La Prensa, 1 Jan. 1932. Included in Discusión.
The Homeric Versions
“Las versiones homericas,” La Prensa, 8 May 1932. Included in Discusión, and revised for later editions.
p. 70: the Quixote is to me an unchanging monument: But Borges, curiously, first read the book in English translation.
p. 71: Augustin Moreto: Spanish cleric and extremely popular comic playwright (1618-1669).
p. 71: Browning’s most famous book: The Ring and the Book (1869).
Narrative Art and Magic
“El arte narrativo y Ia magia,” Sur no. 5, Summer 1932. Included in Discusión.
p. 80: Kenelm Digby’s ointment: Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665) was a naval commander who defeated the French and Venetian fleets in the Battle of Scanderoon, an author of theological tracts and a memoir of his courtship and secret marriage to the celebrated beauty Venetia Stanley, a scientist who discovered the necessity of oxygen for plant life, and the inventor of a “powder of sympathy”—here transformed into an ointment—which could cure a wound by treating the object that inflicted it.
p. 81: Estanislao del Campo: Argentine gaucho poet (1834-1880). His 1866 Fausto is a po etic dialogue of naive gauchos attending a performance of Gounod’s opera Faust.
p. 81: The Showdown: 1928 film by Victor Schertzinger; Underworld: 1927 film by Josef von Sternberg; Dishonored: 1931 film by von Sternberg.
A Defense of the Kabbalah
“Una vindicación de Ia cabala.” First published in Discusión, 1932.
p. 85: St. Paulinus: Italian theologian and Bishop of York (d. 644).
p. 85: [St.] Athanasius: Theologian and Bishop of Alexandria (293-373).
p. 85: Macedonius: Heterodox theologian and Bishop o f Constantinople from 342 to 360.
p. 85: Socinians: Followers of Lelio Sozzini (1525-1562), known as Socin, a theologian, exiled in Switzerland, who rejected the Trinity, original sin, predestination, eternal suffering, and other cornerstones of Christianity.
The Art of Verbal Abuse
“Arte de injuriar,” Sur no. 8, Sept. 1933. Included in Eternidad.
p. 87: truco: Popular Argentine card game, and the subject of an essay in Evaristo Carriego.
p. 91: [Jose] Santos Chocano: Peruvian poet (1875-1934) who consciously sought to become the Latin American Whitman.
p. 91: Jose Maria Manner Sans: Argentine academic critic, author of History Considered as a Genre of Poetry.
p. 91: Miguel Servet: Also known as Michael Servetus (1511-1533), a Spanish theologian burned at the stake as a heretic.
The Translators of The Thousand and One Nights
“Los traductores de las 1001 Noches.” Sections first appeared in Crítica, 10 Mar. 1934. First published in its entirety in Eternidad, 1936.
p. 97: [Paul] Morand: Popular French novelist and travel writer (1888-1976), translated by, among others, Ezra Pound.
p. 98: al-Mutanabbi’s Diwan: Abu-t-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi, Arabic poet (916-965).
p. 100: Toulet’s Contrerimes: Posthumously published book of poems by Paul-Jean Toule
t (1867-1920), known for its technical perfection. Borges said he preferred Toulet to Baudelaire.
p. 103: Marchand’s withdrawal: The 1898 diplomatic crisis, known as the “Fashoda incident,” when the British and Lord Kitchener forced the French and Major Marchand out of a small settlement in the Sudan, almost precipitating a European war.
p. 108: Mannequin d’osier [The Wicker Dummy]: The second in Anatole France’s four-volume series Histoire contemporaine (1896-1901).
I, a Jew
“Yo, judio,” Megáfono no. 12, April 1934. First reprinted in Ficcionario, 1985. Not in the Complete Works.
Rodriguez Monegal notes that in Borges’ “mock search” for a Jewish ancestor, the most likely suspects turn out to be the Acevedos, “the very Catholic and bigoted maternal branch of his family.”
p. 110: Crisol [Crucible]: An Argentine Fascist magazine.
The Labyrinths of the Detective Story and Chesterton
“Los laberintos policiales y Chesterton,” Sur no. 10, May 1935. First reprinted in Ficcionario, 1985. Not in the Complete Works.
The Doctrine of Cycles
“La doctrina de los ciclos,” Sur no. 20, May 1936. Included in Eternidad.
p. 115: [Ernest] Rutherford: Baron Rutherford, English physicist (1871-1937), dis coverer of the atomic nucleus.
A History of Eternity
“Historia de Ia eternidad.” First published in Eternidad, 1936.
The citations from the Enneads are adapted from the Stephen MacKenna translation.
p. 126: Pedro Malon de Chaide: Spanish Augustinian monk and writer (1S30-1S89), and disciple o f Fray Luis de Leon; against the Dominicans, he defended the posicketion that the Scriptures should be translated into Spanish.
p. 127: Abubeker Abentofail: Better known as Ibn Tufail (c. 1530-1589), the Andalusian Arabic writer whose revision of Avicenna’s philosophical romance of a man’s spiritual development on a desert island, Alive, Son of Awake, was one of Ramón Llull’s favorite books.
p. 132: Hans Lassen Martensen: Danish theologian (1808-1884), author of a life of Jakob Boehme and works on Christian ethics.
Film Reviews and Criticism
Borges was a lifelong movie fan. In the years of his blindness, he would go to the movies simply to listen to the dialogue.
The Cinematograph, the Biograph
“El cinematografo El biografo,” La Prensa, 28 Apr. 1929. First reprinted in Textos recobrados, 1998. Not in the Complete Works.
Biógrafo—undoubtedly derived from D. W. Griffith’s Biograph Studios—was the word preferred by the lower-middle and working classes in Buenos Aires; the Francophilic upper classes called a movie a cinematógrafo, the Lumiere Brothers’ name for their invention.
Films
“Films,” Sur no. 3, Winter 1931. Included in Discusión.
Street Scene
Sur no. 5, Summer 1932. Included in Discusión.
King Kong
One of “Cinco breve noticias” [Five Brief Notices], Selección no. 3, July 1933. Never reprinted. Not in the Complete Works.
The Informer
“El delator, film,” Sur no. 11, Aug. 193S· First reprinted in Cine, 1980. Not in the Complete Works.
Two Films
“Dos films;’ Sur no. 19, April 1936. First reprinted in Cine, 1980. Not in the Complete Works .
The Petrified Forest
“El bosque petrificado, film de Archie Mayo,” Sur no. 24, Sept. 1936. First reprinted in Cine, 1980. Not in the Complete Works.
p. 150: The Passing of the Third Floor Back: 1935 British film, directed by Berthold Viertel.
Wells, the Visionary
“Wells, previsor,” Sur no. 26, Nov. 1936. First reprinted in Cine, 1980. Not in the Complete Works.
III. Writings for El Hogar [Home] Magazine, 1936-1939
By 1936, Borges’ father’s health had worsened, and Borges, living at home, decided to supplement the family income by taking a job with El Hogar [Home] , a weekly magazine for the Argentine middle- and upper-class housewife. Borges was in charge of writing the “Foreign Books and Authors” page, which alternated with one devoted to Spanish-language writers. The “Books” page had a strict format which Borges continued: a “capsule biography” of a living writer, one longer review or essay, a few short re views, and an occasional short note on “the literary life.” Although Borges was at his lightest and perhaps wittiest in El Hogar, he by no means limited the range of his subject matter, nor curtailed his habit of citing texts in various languages without a translation. It is remarkable that Borges’ page lasted for three years.
All of these texts were first reprinted in Textos cautivos, 1986.
Ramón Llull’s Thinking Machine
“La maquina de pensar de Raimundo Lulio,” 15 Oct. 1937.
When Fiction Lives in Fiction
“Cuando Ia ficción vive en Ia ficción,” 2 June 1939.
Capsule Biographies
Besides the texts included here, Borges wrote “capsule biographies” of Richard Aidington, Henri Barbusse, Sir James Barrie, Hillaire Belloc, Van Wyck Brooks, Karel Capek, Countee Cullen, e. e. cummings, Alfred Doblin, Lord Dunsany, Edna Ferber, Lion Feuchtwanger, E. M. Forster, Leonhard Frank, David Garnett, Julien Green, Gerhart Hauptmann, Langston Hughes, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, H. R. Lenormand, Arthur Machen, Edgar Lee Masters, Gustav Meyrink, Harold Nicolson, Eden Phillpotts, T. F. Powys, Elmer Rice, Romain Rolland, Carl Sandburg, George Santayana, Olaf Staple don, Lytton Strachey, Hermann Sudermann, Fritz von Unruh, Evelyn Waugh, and Franz Werfel.
First publication dates for the included texts: Isaac Babel, 4 Feb. 1938; Ernest Bramah, 18 Feb. 1938; Benedetto Croce, 27 Nov. 1936; Theodore Dreiser, 19 Aug. 1938; T. S. Eliot, 25 June 1937; Will James, 7 Jan. 1938; Liam O’Flaherty, 9 July 1937; Oswald Spengler, 25 Dec. 1936; Paul Valéry, 22 Jan. 1937; S. S. Van Dine, n June 1937; Virginia Woolf, 30 Oct. 1936.
p. 172: the most dexterous: The translation Borges is referring to is by Borges himself.
p. 174: Orlando: Borges published a translation of Woolf’s novel in 1937, and, the previous year, a translation of A Room of One’s Own.
Book Reviews and Notes
Borges wrote 141 book reviews and 15 notes on “The Literary Life” for El Hogar. First publication dates for the included texts: Gustav Meyrink, Der Engel vom Westlichen Fenster, 16 Oct. 1936.
Alan Pryce-Jones, Private Opinion, 13 Nov. 1936.
Louis Golding, The Pursuer, 11 Dec. 1936.
Lord Halifax’s Ghost Book, 25 Dec. 1936.
William Faulkner, Absalom! Absalom!, 22 Jan. 1937.
Gustaf Janson, Gubben Komme1; 16 Apr. 1937.
Aldous Huxley, Stories, Essays, and Poems, 16 Apr. 1937.
Rabindranath Tagore, Collected Poems and Plays, 11 June 1937.
Ellery Queen, The Door Between, 25 June 1937.
William Barrett, Personality Survives Death, 21 Jan. 1938.
Wolfram Eberhard, tr., Chinese Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, 4 Feb. 1938.
“The Literary Life: Marinetti,” 4 Mar. 1938
p. 184: [Julio] Cejador [y Frauca]: Spanish literary historian (1864-1927) and martinet of the Spanish language.
Richard Hull, Excellent Intentions, 15 Apr. 1938.
p. 184: One of the projects . . . : The hypothetical novel that Borges conceives would later be ascribed to an imaginary author in his story “A Survey of the Works of
Herbert Quain” (1941).
Meadows Taylor, The Confessions ofa Thug, 27 May 1938.
William Faulkner, The Unvanquished, 24 June 1938.
Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, 19 Aug. 1938.
Lord Dunsany, Patches of Sunlight, 2 Sept. 1938.
“Two Fantasy Novels,” 14 Oct. 1938.
“The Literary Life: Oliver Gogarty,” 14 Oct. 1938.
“An English Version of the Oldest Songs in the World;’ 28 Oct. 1938.
Alan Griffiths, OfCourse, Vitelli!, 18 Nov. 193
8.
“A Grandiose Manifesto from Breton;’ 2 Dec. 1938.
p. 192: Andre Breton: It was not known until many years later that the actual author of the Breton/Rivera manifesto was Leon Trotsky.
“H. G. Wells’ Latest Novel,” 2 Dec. 1938.
E. S. Pankhurst, Delphos, or the Future of International Language, 10 Mar. 1939.
“Joyce’s Latest Novel,” 16 June 1939.
“The Literary Life: The Dionne Quints,” 7 July 1939.
This was Borges’ last contribution to the foreign books page.
IV. 1937-1945
As his income from El Hogar was paltry, in 1937 Borges took a job as a low-level bureaucrat in an unimportant municipal library; he would finish his work in an hour and then disappear into the basement for the rest of the day to read and write. Not surprisingly, he discovered and began translating Kafka. In 1938, the death of his father left Borges as head of a household that included his mother, sister Norah, and her husband. Some months later, he developed blood poisoning from a freak accident and nearly died; for reasons too complex to summarize here, the experience both tied him closer to his mother and prompted him to devote himself more seriously to fiction. The result was his greatest book of stories: the 1941 El Jardin de los senderos que se bifurcan [The Garden of Forking Paths), which was expanded in 1944 as Ficciones [Fictions]. Those stories, and his contemporary theoretical essays, set into motion a process that would later combine with folkloric and indigenous elements to produce Latin American “magical realism.”