Jorge Luis Borges in New York

This is a rebroadcast of the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, reading a selection of his poetry at the 92nd Street Y. The writer recites his poems in Spanish and a guest reads the translation. Borges comments on the poems individually and occasionally relates them to his existentialist perspectives. He encourages his audience to read beyond his poems, to see them as more than strands of words that have been strung together. According to the writer, poetry, like art, surpasses the conventional world known to humanity. He sees it as something that occupies another reality-- another universe.

Originally recorded on April 29th, 1976, the reading is a record of one of Borges's last visits to the United States. He reads from some of his most celebrated works, including: The Other Tiger, To a Sword in York Minster, Israel 1969, and An Invocation to Joyce.

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges (1899-1986) was an Argentinian writer, translator, and political activist. His works have been included amongst collections of philosophy, as well as fantasy. While he maintained a respectable international reputation, he was not fully recognized in the United States until the 1960s, the period in which his works began to be translated into English. In the 1961, he received the Prix Formentor, which he shared with Samuel Becket. Borges was also the recipient of the Jerusalem Prize, National Prize for Literature, Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, and the French Legion of Honour.

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