Schavelzon Graham Agencia literaria Barcelona

With Borges

NON FICTION. ALIANZA, 2004. 112 PAGES.

“There is a vast group of people who once read out loud to Borges: little Boswells who are often unaware of the others but who collectively maintain the memory of one of the most lucid readers the world has ever seen (...). For various years, between 1964 and 1968 I had the great fortune to be one of the many who read to Jorge Luis Borges. I worked in the afternoons, when I got out of school, in the Anglo-German bookshop in Buenos Aires, called Pygmalion, which Borges frequented as a customer.”

These words mark the beginning to Alberto Manguel’s homage to the great Argentine writer. It is a text filled with emotions, experiences and admiration. With his characteristic accessibility and erudition, Alberto Manguel delves into his memory chest to bring back the moments he shared with the author of Labyrinths. He recounts readings and re-readings of books that blindness prevented the writer from seeing himself, Manguel’s promptings giving rise to the conversations and reflections of the always remarkable Borges, demonstrating his insatiable curiosity and wit.

Magnificently illustrated with photographs by Sara Facio, With Borges is an essential essay in understanding the ambiguities and symmetries of Borgesian fiction, forever characterised by musings on memory, time and eternity. This is a portrait of an Argentine author who gives us back our faith in the power, mystery and joy of the world of books.

Article in Clarín