The Lesson of the Master

Book excerpt: Jorge Luis Borges wrote: "Fame is a form of incomprehension, perhaps the worst." Since his death Borges has been inducted into the world literary canon through the efforts of a number of influential critics and the Borges estate. Central to this project has been the publication of a group of grand volumes whose greatest achievement has been to make available in English works that had previously remained obscure, even in Spanish. The five-year collaboration (1967-1972) between Borges and Norman Thomas di Giovanni produced the translations that brought Borges his burgeoning global English readership. The Lesson of the Master--a memoir and essays--is an indispensable work for Borges readers and his growing legion of students and scholars. Di Giovanni was the only translator to have Borges on hand on a daily basis to contradict or authorize his work. In addition di Giovanni is not burdened with an over-reverence for his subject but is on the contrary playful, robust, and witty. The Lesson of the Master is an essential illumination of one of the great masters of twentieth-century literature.