Jorge Luis Borges

Gerardo Pina (University of East Anglia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 5.1.1: Hispanic Writing and Culture of South America.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Ben Bollig (University of Oxford), Ceire Broderick (University College Cork), Nuala Finnegan (University College Cork), Anna Forné (Gothenburg University), Cara Levey (University College Cork), Carolina Orloff (Independent Scholar - Europe), Lori Oxford (Western Carolina University), Ailsa Peate (University of Westminster)

Dates

Born 24 Aug 1899
Died 14 Jun 1986
Activity 1919-1986

Places

Born in Argentina
Active in Argentina; Spain

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Story-writer

Resources

Borges' Works

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Jorge Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on August 24, 1899. The Borges family lived in Palermo, a neighbourhood at the outskirts of Buenos Aires which was a lower-class suburb historically famous for its cabarets, whorehouses, tango dancers and knife-fights among the

compadritos

or hoodlums. By the time Borges lived there, the neighbourhood had become less violent but the influence of these characters remained in his works. His father, Jorge Guillermo Borges, was a lawyer and a psychology teacher; his mother, Leonor Acevedo de Borges was a descendent of soldiers, so she kept her house ornamented with family artefacts such as swords, uniforms and portraits of great freedom fighters. Borges’ parents spoke and read English because his paternal grandfather, Colonel Francisco…

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2435 words

Citation: Pina, Gerardo. "Jorge Luis Borges". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 July 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5127, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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