Conversations, Volume 2
Jorge Luis Borges, Osvaldo Ferrari
Translated by Tom Boll
5 x 7.75 inches, 352pp. October 2015
ISBN : 9780857423009
Rs 750.00 (HB)
$27.50 (HB)
£19.50 (HB)
Buy (HB) Recorded during Jorge Luis Borges’s final years, this second volume of his conversations with Osvaldo Ferrari provides a wide-ranging reflection on the life and work of Argentina’s master writer and favorite conversationalist. In Conversations: Volume 2, Borges and Ferrari engage in a dialogue that is both improvisational and frequently humorous as they touch on subjects as diverse as epic poetry, detective fiction, Buddhism and the moon landing. With his signature wit, Borges offers insight into the philosophical basis of his stories and poems, his fascination with religious mysticism and the idea of life as dream. He also dwells on more personal themes, including the influence of his mother and father on his intellectual development, his friendships, and living with blindness. These recollections are alive to the passage of history, whether in the changing landscape of Buenos Aires or a succession of political conflicts, leading Borges to contemplate what he describes as his 'South American destiny.'
The recurrent theme of these conversations, however, is a life lived through books. Borges draws on the resources of a mental library that embraces world literature—ancient and modern. He recalls the works that were a constant presence in his memory and maps his changing attitudes to a highly personal canon. In the prologue to the volume, Borges celebrates dialogue and the transmission of culture across time and place. These conversations are a testimony to the supple ways that Borges explored his own relation to numerous traditions.
Osvaldo Ferrari, is a poet, essayist and university teacher. His poetry includes Poemas de vida (1974), Poemas autobiográficos (1981) and Poemas existenciales (2012). He had organized radio talks with Alberto Girri, Ernesto Sabato, among other important literary figures in Argentina.
Jorge Luis Borges, the famous Argentine short-story writer, poet and philosopher, began life as a poet with Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923). In the 1940s, he published his great story collections Ficciones (1944) and The Aleph (1949). Following his blindness in 1955, he turned again to traditional poetry, based on meter, and published several volumes, starting with the mixed prose and verse El hacedor (1960), followed by several collections.
Tom Boll is the author of Octavio Paz and T. S. Eliot: Modern Poetry and the Translation of Influence (Legenda, 2012). He has edited bilingual editions of the Mexican poets Coral Bracho and David Huerta, and published numerous articles on Spanish American literature and translation. After teaching in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at King’s College London, he is now Managing/Programme Director of the Poetry Translation Centre.
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