Borges's Poe: The Influence and Reinvention of Edgar Allan Poe in Spanish America

In the 20th century, the image and significance of Edgar Allan Poe changed due to the influence of three writers from the Río de la Plata region of South America: Uruguayan Horacio Quiroga, Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, and Julio Cortázar. Emron Esplin's book "Borges's Poe" explores the complex literary relationship between the two writers, highlighting the cultural context in which Borges interpreted Poe. It demonstrates how Borges's literary criticism, Poe translations, and fiction create a disparate Poe who serves as a precursor to Borges's own detective and fantastic stories and as an inspiration to the Latin American Boom. The book shows that literary influence runs both ways, as Poe's writings visibly affect Borges and Borges's analyses and translations of Poe's work and responses to Poe's texts in his own fiction forever change how readers of Poe return to his literary corpus.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 30 January 2019
Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Edgar Allan Poe's image and influence underwent a significant transformation during the 20th century, and this shift is intricately linked to the literary contributions of three writers hailing from the Río de la Plata region of South America: Uruguayan Horacio Quiroga, Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, and Julio Cortázar. In Borges's interpretation of Poe, Emron Esplin delves into the second member of this trio and posits that Borges played a pivotal role in reshaping Poe's image across Spanish America. Through a sustained and intricate literary engagement with Poe's works, Borges emerged as the primary catalyst that transformed Poe's perception from a poet-prophet to a timeless fiction writer.

Most scholarship that explores the relationship between Poe and Borges primarily focuses on their detective stories, occasionally touching upon their critical writings and the remainder of their fiction, while downplaying the cultural context in which Borges interprets Poe. In this book, Esplin delves into the published works of both writers as well as several previously untapped archival resources to unveil a more intricate literary bond between them. By emphasizing the spatial and temporal context in which Borges interprets Poe—the Río de la Plata region from the 1920s through the 1980s—Borges's Poe underscores Poe's enduring presence within Borges's literary corpus. More importantly, it showcases how Borges's literary criticism, Poe translations, and his own fiction converge to create a multifaceted Poe who serves as a precursor to Borges's own detective and fantastic stories, as well as an inspiration to the so-called Latin American Boom.

When viewed within this broader context, Borges's Poe reveals that literary influence flows literary influence operates in both directions. Poe's writings not only visibly impact Borges the poet, story writer, essayist, and thinker, but also Borges's analyses and translations of Poe's work, as well as his responses to Poe's texts in his own fiction, further shape and refine Borges's literary oeuvre.

Weight: 388g
Dimension: 155 x 227 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780820355375