Against Borges : Four Women Writers of his Inner Circles

The four writers of this study – Norah Lange, Silvina Ocampo, Estela Canto and Silvina Bullrich – are rarely considered together. Each, however, made their literary start within the close-knit circles dominated by Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires in the mid-twentieth century. The title of the book plays with the double meaning of the word ‘against’ – signifying ‘opposed’ or ‘resistant’, but also ‘touching’ or ‘supported by’. In each case, the four writers benefited from early support from Borges, before eventually finding their own voices different from his as well as from each other’s. These writers struggled as much as their nineteenth-century counterparts to find ways to represent in fiction a particularly feminine subjectivity, and this study recognises their similarities as well as their originality. Most importantly, it seeks to undo misperceptions about these writers that have persisted to the present day, particularly regarding their individual paths through the fraught politics of Argentina’s twentieth century.

Situates the work of four women writers who were part of Borges’s circle in the history of women’s writing generally, drawing on feminist theory from Europe and North America as well as from Latin American perspectives.

Against Borges examines four women writers—Norah Lange, Silvina Ocampo, Estela Canto, and Silvina Bullrich—who are not often considered together, but who each had their literary start within the close-knit circles dominated by Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires’s mid-twentieth century. The title plays with the double meaning of the word “against,” signifying opposed or resistant, but also touching or supported by. In each case, the writers benefited from early support by Borges, but eventually found their own voices, different from his and also from each other’s. These writers struggled as much as their nineteenth-century counterparts to find ways to represent in fiction a particularly feminine subjectivity. This study acknowledges their similarities and also highlights their originality. More importantly, it seeks to undo some of the misperceptions about them that persist to the present day, especially regarding their paths through the fraught politics of Argentina’s twentieth century.