On Argentina

A literary guide to Argentina by its most famous writer

Jorge Luis Borges wrote about Argentina as only someone passionate about his homeland can. On Argentina reveals the many facets of his passion in essays, poems, and stories through which he sought to bring Argentina forward on the world stage, and to do for Buenos Aires what James Joyce did for Dublin.

In colorful pieces on the tango and the gaucho, on the card game truco, and on the criollos (immigrants from Spain) and compadritos (street-corner thugs), we gain insight not only into unique aspects of Argentine culture but also into the intellect and values of one of Latin America’s most influential writers. Featuring material available in English for the first time, this unprecedented collection is an invaluable literary and travel companion for devotees of both Borges and Argentina. 

Jorge Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires in 1989 and was educated in Europe. One of the most widely acclaimed writers of our time, he published many collections of poems, essays, and short stories before his death in Geneva in June 1986. In 1961 Borges shared the International Publisher’s prize with Samuel Beckett. The Ingram Merrill Foundation granted him its Annual Literary Award in 1966 for his “outstanding contribution to literature.” In 1971 Columbia University awarded him the first of many degrees of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa (eventually the list included both Oxford and Cambridge), that he was to receive from the English-speaking world. In 1971 he also received the fifth biennial Jerusalem Prize and in 1973 was given one of Mexico’s most prestigious cultural awards, the Alfonso Reyes Prize. In 1980 he shared with Gerardo Diego the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish world’s highest literary accolade. Borges was Director of the Argentine National Library from 1955 until 1973.
 
Alfred Mac Adam (editor, introducer, notes) is a translator and art critic who teaches Latin American literature at Barnard College–Columbia University. He lives in New York City.
 
Suzanne Jill Levine (general editor) is a professor of Latin American literature and translation studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the distinguished translator of such innovative Spanish American writers as Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Manuel Puig, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and Julio Cortázar. She lives in Santa Barbara, California.On Argentina

Contents

Introduction by Alfred Mac Adam
A Note on the Text

• Man on Pink Corner
 
From Inquisitions (1925)
• Buenos Aires
• The Mythical Founding of Buenos Aires
• Ascasubi
• The Criollo Element in Ipuche
• The Complaint of All Criollos
• Eduardo González Lanuza
 
From Moon Across the Way (1925) 
• General Quiroga Rides to His Death in a Carriage
 
From The Full Extent of My Hope (1926)
• Carriego and the Meaning of the Arrabal
• The Full Extent of My Hope
• The Pampa and the Suburbio Are Gods
• The Purple Land
• Leopoldo Lugones: Romancero
 
From The Language of the Argentines (1928)
• Truco
• Truco (poem)
• Genealogy of the Tango
• Situating Almafuerte
• The Language of the Argentines
 
From Evaristo Carriego (1930) 
• Buenos Aires: Palermo
• A History of the Tango
 
Miscellany (1931–1951)
• Our Inabilities
• I, a Jew
• Borges's  prologue to the German edition of Enrique Amorim's La carreta
• Definition of a Germanophile 
• Our Poor Individualism
• The Argentine Writer and Tradition

• The South
 
Glossary
Sources