Borges and His Fiction: A Guide to His Mind and Art

by Gene H. Bell-Villada

The acclaimed author of García Márquez delivers “a compulsively readable account of the life and works of our greatest . . . writer of fantasy” (New York Daily News).   Since its first publication in 1981, Borges and His Fiction has introduced the life and works of this Argentinian master-writer to an entire generation of students, high school and college teachers, and general readers. Responding to a steady demand for an updated edition, Gene H. Bell-Villada has significantly revised and expanded the book to incorporate new information that has become available since Borges’ death in 1986. In particular, he offers a more complete look at Borges and Peronism and Borges’ personal experiences of love and mysticism, as well as revised interpretations of some of Borges’ stories. As before, the book is divided into three sections that examine Borges’ life, his stories in Ficciones and El Aleph, and his place in world literature.  “Of the scores of Borges studies by now published in English, Bell-Villada’s excellent book stands out as one of the freshest and most generally helpful . . . Lay readers and specialists alike will find his book a valuable and highly readable companion to Ficciones and El Aleph.” —Choice

Genres: Literary Criticism, Criticism

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 28, 1981

Reviews

[Wim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good companion to Borges his major works: ficciones, the Aleph and other stories.

Every story is discussed and details, angles given to better understand the sometimes complex and erudite meanderings in each story.

I read this guide in parallel to above cited works and i can only recommend every new reader of Borges to do the same. I started rather critical after reading the first stories of ficciones but towards the end of the Aleph stories I became an aficionada helped also by this wonderful guide.

Outside the major works, Borges other works are treated very curator, his later works, or not (his poetry). This is certainly an area where i would like an alternative opinion and I have on my shelve as a future read:The Cambridge Companion to Jorge Luis Borges

The last 2 chapters of this book i would rather give a light 3 stars. Bell-vida tries to explain why Borges peaked in the forties through a short overview of the political situation in Argentine/ south America. This is for me too simplified and I still do not understand Borges his relation with Peronism.
Also his influence on the cultural scene in US is treated but in my opinion too hasty way and almost as an obligatory after-thought.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

A guide to the stories of Jorge Luis Borges, which goes through them book by book and story by story, explaining the references and putting the stories in the context of his life and events. It gave me a better appreciation of some of the stories I hadn't enjoyed so much, particularly all the gaucho stories. Although the revised edition was written after Borges' death and claims to be based on all his works, there is no mention of his last collection, La memoria de Shakespeare.