Portrait of the Author as a Historian: Jorge Luis Borges

Is reality simply a collection of unconnected moments and impressions? If so, what does it mean for our understanding of the past? For one Argentine writer, fiction was the perfect place to explore such questions.

Head in the clouds: Jorge Luis Borges in Palermo, Sicily, 1984.Jorge Luis Borges’ relationship with the past can seem puzzling. As he admitted in an interview published in 1967, Argentina’s history was in his blood. Born in Buenos Aires, he had been brought up on tales of heroic ancestors who had fought for independence and unity.

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