Every memorable man runs the risk of being minted in anecdotes.

Borges Articles

There are hundreds of articles about Borges on the Web. This page makes no efforts to be comprehensive, but offers links to a few of the more useful or interesting pieces. Academic papers about Borges and interviews with Borges are located on separate pages. The articles are listed in chronological order.

Borges at M.I.T.
By Roy Lisker
13 April 1980, Ferment magazine
A withering look at the academic circus surrounding Borges during an open panel discussion at M.I.T.

The Parallels! Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges
By John Barth
4 April 1997, Centre for Book Culture
Novelist John Barth compares Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino.

The Library of Babel
By Dominic Gates
October 1997, PreText
How Borges prefigured digital libraries and the Web.

The Library of Infinity is Opening Near You
By William Hoffman
18 January 1999, The Doric Column
Borges and the information age.

Webmaster Borges
By Douglas Wolk
6 December 1999, Salon.com
Salon wryly contends that Borges’ biggest inspiration was in fact the Internet, invented years after his death.

Lost in the Labyrinth
By Chase Madar
14 December 1999, Feed
This catty essay states that Borges is overrated, and attacks Borges scholarship as an empty pursuit.

The Librarian of Babel: The Gnostic Imagination of Jorge Luis Borges
By Robert Royal
Jan/Feb 2001, Christianity Today
This article discusses the development of gnostic themes in Borges’ writing. [Requires a membership fee.]

A Subaltern Horror
By Garrett Rowlan
October 2002, The Modern Word
The endless stacks of UCLA’s nine libraries are the catalyst for this reflective piece on Borges’ hexagonal library and its relationship to all great libraries.

In Memory of Borges
By Norman Thomas di Giovanni
15 December 2008, Author’s Homepage
Borges’ translator reminisces about his time with Borges, and defends himself against attacks from the Borges Estate.

Forgotten but Not Gone
By Eric Benson
1 July 1 2011, Guernica
On the fiftieth anniversary of Borges’s first visit to Texas, Eric Benson travels to Texas and talks with Carter Wheelock.

Translating Borges
By Alberto Manguel
9 April 2012, Biblioasis International Translation Blog
Writer, translator, and former Borges reader Alberto Manguel discusses the challenges of translating Borges.

The Missing Borges
By Graciela Mochkofsky
16 April 2014, The Paris Review
A strange tale of bibliomania, theft, and a rare first edition of Fervor de Buenos Aires.

Amigas, cómplices, amantes y admiradoras: las mujeres de Borges
By Milena Heinrich
2016 June 13, Télam
Heinrich writes about Borges relationships with Elsa Astete Millán, Silvina Ocampo, and María Kodama. [Spanish]

Were Libraries Borges’s Universe or the Other Way Around?
Conversation with Rodrigo Fresan & Rodrigo Rey
2019 May 7, PEN
A conversation between Fresan and Rey that took place on as part of the PEN World Voices Festival in New York City.

What I Lost When I Translated Jorge Luis Borges
By Andrew Hurley
2019 February 1, Inverse Journal
Borges translator Andrew Hurley discusses the challenges he faced while translating Collected Fictions.