Borges and the Literary Marketplace: How Editorial Practices Shaped Cosmopolitan Reading

A fascinating history of Jorge Luis Borges's efforts to revolutionize and revitalize literature in Latin America

"Nora Benedict's illuminating book is an essential contribution to the understanding of Borges' relationship to the written word. The portrait of Borges as writer and reader is now made complete with Benedict's exploration of Borges as editor."--Alberto Manguel, director, Center for Research into the History of Reading

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) stands out as one of the most widely regarded and inventive authors in world literature. Yet the details of his employment history throughout the early part of the twentieth century, which foreground his efforts to develop a worldly reading public, have received scant critical attention. From librarian and cataloguer to editor and publisher, this writer emerges as entrenched in the physical minutiae and social implications of the international book world.

Drawing on years of archival research coupled with bibliographical analysis, Nora C. Benedict explains how Borges's more general involvement in the publishing industry influenced not only his formation as a writer, but also global book markets and reading practices in world literature. In this way she tells the story of Borges's profound efforts to revolutionize and revitalize literature in Latin America through his various jobs in the publishing industry.