General & Miscellaneous Essays, Argentine Literature - Literary Criticism

Evaristo Carriego : Ensayo

Name: Evaristo Carriego : Ensayo
Author: Jorge Luis Borges
ISBN: 9788420633459

by Jorge Luis Borges

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Overview

Evaristo Carriego no es solamente la biografía de un poeta olvidado. En realidad, Jorge Luis Borges utiliza su existencia para recrear el suburbio porteño de principios de siglo, que ha dado lugar al mito y la leyenda: "el Palermo del cuchillo y la guitarra", las quintas, los caserones con sucesión de patios, los burdeles y conventillos, el truco, las inscripciones fanfarronas de los carros, la idiosincrasia de los jinetes, la temeridad de los guapos, el eterno criollo acosado por la justicia y la calma de quien debe una muerte. En la poesía de Carriego se explica el sentido de muchas cosas que hoy han pasado a ser lugares comunes y se rescata lo auténtico de la marea arrabalera, alimentada sin cesar por el tango y el sainete. Precisamente, Borges incorporó aquí su "Historia del tango", análisis penetrante de la música popular porteña.

About the Author, Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

This legendary Argentine poet, essayist, and short-story writer's works have become classics of 20th-century world literature, leaving a legacy that serves as an enduring testament to the politics and passions of Jorge Luis Borges.

Biography

Jorge Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires in 1899 and was educated in Europe. One of the most widely acclaimed writers of the 20th century, he published many collections of poems, essays, and short stories before his death in Geneva in June 1986.

In 1961, Borges shared the International Publishers' prize with Samuel Beckett. In 1971, Columbia University awarded him the first of many degrees of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, that he was to receive from the English-speaking world -- eventually, the list included both Oxford and Cambridge universities. In 1971 he also received the fifth biennial Jerusalem Prize and in 1973 was given one of Mexico's most prestigious cultural awards, the Alfonso Reyes Prize. In 1980 he shared with Gerardo Diego the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary accolade.

Borges was director of the Argentine National Library from 1955 until 1973.

Author biography courtesy of Penguin Group (USA)

Good To Know

Borges began writing at the age of six, mostly fantasy stories inspired by Cervantes. When he was nine, he translated Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince into Spanish, and the piece was published in El País, a local newspaper.

To the outrage of his followers, Borges never did receive the Nobel prize. "Not granting me the Nobel Prize has become a Scandinavian tradition," Borges once quipped. "Since I was born they have not been granting it to me."

Several of Borges's short stories have been adapted for the movies, most recently Death and the Compass (1996), directed by Alex Cox (Repo Man).