He was a child who spoke in 2 ways: in a way with his grandmother and in a different way with other people. Later he learned that the way he spoke with his grandmother, was called English and with the others, he was Spanish.
That boy was called Jorge Luis Borges, and his literary precocity, marked his course as one of the great writers of the twentieth century.
Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and profiled as a sure winner, a few days before the official announcement, Borges made laudatory statements about a Chilean dictator accused of genocide and acts of corruption. The international scandal forced the Swedish Academy to change the name of the winner; thus, Borges became part of the great names that never received the coveted award.
Borges' life was an eternal paradox: born in Argentina and considered the best Latin American writer of his time, he was also considered a great writer in English, language, among others, who knew perfectly.
Another paradox: Borges affirmed that he had been born in a mistaken continent, when this continent adored him and continues to adore him in literary terms.
And one more paradox: Borges, the indefatigable reader, the book-eating lover, became blind at an early age. He said that God, in a strange joke, had given him a love for books and at the same time, he had wrapped him in the darkness of the night, so that he could not contemplate them.
Bust of Jorge Luis Borges
Sculptor: Carlos Alvarez, 1996
Garden of the Poets (Palermo) Buenos Aires
