J.L. Borges - This Craft of Verse (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)
For Borges (1899-1986), the central fact of life was the existence of words and their potential as building blocks of poetry. In this series of six long-forgotten lectures given at Harvard more than 40 years ago, he insists that reading (in English, primarily) gave him more pleasure than writing.
Although his work has been restricted to the short story, the essay, and poetry, Jorge Luis Borges of Argentina is recognized all over the world as one of the most original and significant figures in modern literature. In his preface André Maurois writes: "Borges is a great writer who has composed only little essays or short narratives. Yet they suffice for us to call him great because of their wonderful intelligence, their wealth of invention, and their tight, almost mathematical style."
He read and wrote with the greatest of passions. And Jorge Luis Borges, the greatest of Argentine writers, created, through a 60-year-long career, one of the most significant and enduring literary legacies of any writer of the 20th century. The reach of his poetry, his stories, and his essays was global. His works came to be read throughout the world, even prior to becoming an elderly statesman-like writer. The result was a legacy of written art that often defies categorization, or even accurate description.
Added by: englishcology | Karma: 4552.52 | Fiction literature | 21 August 2008
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Jorge Luis Borges has been called the greatest Spanish-language writer of our century. Now for the first time in English, all of Borges' dazzling fictions are gathered into a single volume, brilliantly translated by Andrew Hurley. From his 1935 debut with The Universal History of Iniquity, through his immensely influential collections Ficciones and The Aleph, these enigmatic, elaborate, imaginative inventions display Borges' talent for turning fiction on its head by playing with form and genre and toying with language. Together these incomparable works comprise the perfect one-volume compendium for all those who have long loved Borges, and a superb introduction to the master's work for those who have yet to discover this singular genius.
Jorge Luis Borges is one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, best known for his intriguing short stories that play with philosophical ideas, such as identity, reality and language. His work, which includes poetry, essays, and reviews of imaginary books, has had great influence on magical realism and literary theory. He viewed the realist novel as over-rated and deluded, revelling instead in fable and imaginary worlds. He declared “people think life is the thing but I prefer reading”.
![Borges [Culture; Advanced Listening; mp3]](http://englishtips.org/uploads/posts/2011-01/1294099673_1181388537_iot_borges.jpg "Borges [Culture; Advanced Listening; mp3]")
