The Missing Borges

Norman Thomas di Giovanni is an American writer and translator.  He is most famous for his work with Jorge Luis Borges, translating many of his stories and poems into English.  He is a fascinating man and he has a fascinating story to tell.

Norman's relationship and work with Borges was, according to Edwin Williamson's biography of the Argentinian writer, 'instrumental in making Borges known in the English-speaking world' as well as enabling 'the wholly impractical Borges to make some money from his writing'.

In fact, Borges was so happy with their work together that he agreed to equal shares of the royalties from any translations they undertook.  Norman went to live in Buenos Aires for a period to work alongside him.

But despite the wonderful reviews and large readership that di Giovanni's translations had garnered during Borges' lifetime, something rather strange happened after his death.  The di Giovanni editions were allowed to fall out of print and were replaced with new versions.  If Borges himself was such a fan of Norman's versions then why would the estate replace them?  Could it have been something to do with that 50/50 split of royalties?  Did they just feel it was time for fresh translations?  Did they want to relaunch Borges work to the English-speaking world?  Who am I to say?

What I do know is that many people weren't overly keen on the new versions.  Paul Theroux wrote to di Giovanni after being sent a proof of one of them to say 'It seemed to me like a new translation of the Bible.  It simply doesn't work.'

Whatever the truth of the matter, and whatever the history, as a reader and lover of literature I am intrigued by the whole story and the simple fact that they are hard to get hold of makes me want to read the di Giovanni translations even more.

Which is why I am delighted to report that Norman has started making some rare Borges material available online for anyone to read for free.  His website is www.digiovanni.co.uk and he is adding new material every few weeks.  The work up there so far includes some previously untranslated interviews as well as some lost pieces that have been ommited from newer editions of Borges books.

I first visited the site a couple of weeks ago and it was one of the rare occasions when I sat down and read every word that was on screen.  I couldn't tear myself away.  I suspect some of you might enjoy a trip over there as well.

If you do pootle across then I also recommend the Among Friends section at the end where di Giovanni shares the work of other writers of his acquaintace.  There is some really good stuff there.

Comments

[emma townshend]

oh my god, thank you so much for this!

[David Belbin]

Thanks very much for this. Also the bookbrunch and blogburst links, most useful.