Jorge Luis Borges

 Jorge Luis Borges was born on August 24 1899 in Buenos Aires, but shortly after he was born, his family relocated to Palermo, a suburb in Buenos Aires. He often used the "flavor" of his neighborhood in his writing. His family included British heritage, and Borges learned English before Spanish. His father was a lawyer and a psychology teacher and his mother was a translator. His house had a large library and garden that enchanted his imagination. 
        After WWII the Borges family moved to Spain and Borges was part of a literary group. He wrote his first poem, "Hymn to the Sea" in the style of Walt Whitman. In 1927, he settled in Buenos Aires and started his career by writing and publishing poems and essays.
        Borges died on June 14, 1986, at the age of 86, in Geneva, Switzerland due to liver cancer.

   Jorge Luis Borges was a largely popular and successful writer and poet. Over time he developed a huge, dedicated fan-base throughout the world. His very artful works were often about Argentina itself whether it be culture or nature or landscape. He was known for using greatly detailed description and later in his career a very modern look at Argentine cities like Buenos Aires and Mendoza. His evocative writings are influential to this day and most likely will be for the foreseeable future.

   Jorge was denied the Nobel prize for literature, possibly because of his conservative Political stance and his relationship with a communist leader. Many of his fans and readers beleived that he fully deserved the award despite his politics.

   Questions I would ask Jorge Luis Borges-

What part of Argentina influenced you the most?

Which of your poems was your favorite?

How did your mixed heritage help or hinder you over the span of your career?

What inspired you to write?

What would you tell your critics if you could meet them face to face?

   Here are some quotes from the great man himself (the last two I find the most interesting):

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”

“Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.”

“Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone”

“Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.”