From Publishers Weekly
Only one of the most paradoxical men of 20th-century Spanish-language letters could have authored an equally complicated literary work such as Labyrinths. And Jorge Luis Borges's life (1899–1986) imitated his art. In this dynamic biography, Spanish literature scholar Williamson (The Penguin History of Latin America) pieces together the life of Argentina's elusive literary master against a backdrop of the country's history and the author's oeuvre. While Borges was known as a rebel of narrative form and a crusader against conservative politics, Williamson argues that in spite of his ultracerebral writing style, he lived and died with very ordinary regrets. Borges was the son of battling parents from opposing political parties and the grandson of some of Argentina's most revered military generals. Williamson shows the young writer (whom he nicknames "Georgie" for effect) as a weakling and social recluse, unable to defend himself from the world's bullies. Ultimately, Borges chose the pen over the valiant dagger, so often used in his family's bloody history, as a means of protection. Later in life, displeased with his early books of essays, he set out to buy and burn all available copies. With just the right balance of fact and insight to make for a composed and not overly inflated biography, Williamson's psychoanalysis of Borges in love and in alienation is compelling. Replete with the most detailed facts about the air surrounding Borges, the book maintains human drama without overloading on unnecessary facts to create a poignant overview of a peculiar man. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
About a dozen Borges biographies exist; does Williamson’s work add anything new? The author, an Oxford professor, adopts a psychoanalytic approach to Borges’s life—but this unique approach raises serious questions. Some critics praise Williamson’s deep insight into Borges’s private life; as the San Diego Union-Tribune points out, Borges in Love would more aptly have described the work. Other reviewers criticize Williamson’s Freudian lens, which produces abundant speculation and simplistic analysis. And while Williamson pieced together a life from an impressive array of sources, he could have been more selective and focused more on Borges’s major works. Borges will not be the definitive biography. Still, it’s an unsentimental, sympathetic, and readable portrait of the man who transformed Latin American literature. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Jorge Luis Borges is one of the giants of twentieth-century literature, an Argentine writer of singular vision and talent profoundly inspired by mythology, metaphysics, detective stories, and the deepest, most contrary emotions aroused by family, country, and love. Borges greatly enhanced the philosophical and aesthetic dimensions of fiction in his provocative story-essay hybrids, entwined personal passions with political convictions in his poetry, and made of his life a quest to understand the parameters and significance of the self within the mysterious, labyrinthine universe. The withdrawn, myopic, and bookish son of a literary half-English father and a fiercely class-conscious mother, Borges began writing early on, but neither fame nor happiness found him until his later years, after he lost his sight. Williamson is the first to chronicle in full Borges' tumultuous private life, and, therefore, the first to draw crucial connections between his haunting imagery, momentous themes, and indelible voice and his smothering familial relationships, disastrous love affairs, and valiant opposition to tyranny, especially that of the Peron regime. The result is a richly psychological, dynamically intellectual, and deeply affecting portrait of an often anguished and inhibited man who, through heroic perseverance and spiritual conviction, found salvation in writing and transformed literature for all time. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Acclaimed as one of the great writers of the twentieth century, Jorge Luis Borges revolutionized the literature of Latin America almost single-handedly, as well as having a remarkable impact in Britain, France, Italy, the United States, and many other countries. He became famous for his astonishing tales of fantasy and metaphysics, but he was also a poet and essayist of formidable skill. Borges always insisted on the autobiographical basis of his writing, claiming that "the stories were about myself, my personal experiences," and that even fantasy was "a mode of confession." This is the first biography in any language to encompass the entire span of Borges's life and work, based on previously unknown or unavailable sources. It brings out the human side of Borges: his roots in Argentina, his relations with family and friends, in love and in despair. It charts the evolution of his political ideas: his early days as a cultural nationalist, his activities against Peron, his support for the Argentine military juntas during the Dirty War of the 1970s, and the pacifism he finally espoused. By correlating this new biographical information with Borges's literary texts, Edwin Williamson reconstructs the dynamics of his inner world -- the conflicts, desires, and obsessions that drove the man and shaped his work.

A unique achievement is the discovery of hitherto unknown episodes in the 1920s and 1930s that drove Borges to the brink of suicide and changed him profoundly as a writer and whose memories haunt many of the most famous texts of his middle years. Complementing this crucial finding is an equally fascinating revelation: based on extensive interviews with Maria Kodama, the biography describes the successive phases of Borges's passionate love affair with her during the last two decades of his life. Edwin Williamson's major new biography finally unlocks the mysteries that still surround the life of Borges, and the result is a compelling and poignant portrait that will radically transform established views of this modern master.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Only one of the most paradoxical men of 20th-century Spanish-language letters could have authored an equally complicated literary work such as Labyrinths. And Jorge Luis Borges's life (1899-1986) imitated his art. In this dynamic biography, Spanish literature scholar Williamson (The Penguin History of Latin America) pieces together the life of Argentina's elusive literary master against a backdrop of the country's history and the author's oeuvre. While Borges was known as a rebel of narrative form and a crusader against conservative politics, Williamson argues that in spite of his ultracerebral writing style, he lived and died with very ordinary regrets. Borges was the son of battling parents from opposing political parties and the grandson of some of Argentina's most revered military generals. Williamson shows the young writer (whom he nicknames "Georgie" for effect) as a weakling and social recluse, unable to defend himself from the world's bullies. Ultimately, Borges chose the pen over the valiant dagger, so often used in his family's bloody history, as a means of protection. Later in life, displeased with his early books of essays, he set out to buy and burn all available copies. With just the right balance of fact and insight to make for a composed and not overly inflated biography, Williamson's psychoanalysis of Borges in love and in alienation is compelling. Replete with the most detailed facts about the air surrounding Borges, the book maintains human drama without overloading on unnecessary facts to create a poignant overview of a peculiar man. (On sale Aug. 9) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Who was Jorge Luis Borges, enigmatic writer of even more enigmatic and puzzling prose? Trying to unravel that mystery, Williamson (Spanish, Exeter Coll., Oxford) includes previously unexplored interviews and resources to reveal the political, social, cultural, and literary climates in which Borges lived and personal details of those who influenced him most. He depicts the major themes in Borges's life and writing: his fascination with the cult of cuchilleros (knife fighters from the barrios of Buenos Aires), complex relationships with women, competitiveness and camaraderie with other (male) writers, and reaction to his father's death and the ensuing accident that almost claimed his own life. The expectations and experiences of Borges's ancestors dominate his prose, with the pen representing his success as a writer and philosopher, which would vanquish the sword, symbolizing the military prowess and heroism of preceding generations, traits Borges knew he could never live up to. Williamson's biography is evidently the first to tackle Borges's entire life. Recommended for all academic and most large public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/04.] Nedra Crowe-Evers, Sacramento P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews