Borges on Public Opinion, Literature vs. the Other Arts, and the True Measure of Success

Brain Pickings

Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899–June 14 1986) is among humanity's most beloved and influential writers. His work has inspired mathematical revelations, philosophical children's books, and a universe of literature. After his death, Susan Sontag commemorated him in the most beautiful homage in the history of letters.

In 1972, in his seventies and already completely blind, Borges agreed to meet with a young Argentinian writer and passionate reader named Fernando Sorrentino for a series of conversations. On seven afternoons, the two men, separated by more than forty years and united by a profound love of literature, sat down in a secluded room at the National Library of Argentina and conversed candidly about literature and life. The record of these revelatory encounters, offering the most direct glimpse of the beloved author's mind, was published as Seven Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges (public library) in 1974 – the same magnificent volume that gave us Borges's enduring wisdom on writing.

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