Borges : A Life [Hardcover]

"Its evocations of the soul of a place.... Approaches, In Its Way, The Somber Magic of Joyce's Dubliners."

'Williamson succeeds in presenting his subject with...considered sensitivity...The emotional weight of this biography is perhaps its highest achievement'

'Borges: A Life combines close reading with historical acumen.'

'A literary life of major importance, authoritatively told in an exceptionally fine biography.' -

'...altogether first-rate biography...extraordinary vividness'

'An absorbing and meticulously researched biography by one of the best critics of Latin American literature of our time'

'Superb ... provides a stimulating and colourful account of Borges's life, work and times'

It is difficult to see how Edwin Williamson's research could be bettered or superseded.'

'A literary life of major importance, authoritatively told in an exceptionally fine biography.'

'...astonishingly vivid and original...takes the reader far beyond any previous point in understanding the life of the Argentine master'

Edwin Williamson's major new biography is the first in any language to encompass the entire span of Jorge Luis Borges's life and work. Drawing upon previously unknown or unavailable sources, it brings out the human side of Borges: his roots in Argentina, the evolution of his political ideas, his relations with family and friends; the conflicts, desires, and obsessions that drove the man and shaped his work. Williamson's definitive biography finally unlocks the mysteries that still surround hte life of Borges, resulting in a compelling and poignant portrait that will radically transform established views of this modern master.

Edwin Williamson is the author of the Penguin History of Latin America and other books on both Latin America and the Golden Age of Spain. He is the King Alfonso XIII Professor of Spanish in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Exeter College.