Long before Jorge Luis Borges became one of the world’s most influential writers in the Spanish language, English was already woven into his life. It was the language of his family, his earliest readings, and, eventually, many of the literary traditions that shaped his imagination.

According to Borges biographer Lucas Adur — author of Jorge Luis Borges: a literary fate, published by Cátedra — English provided Borges with his first literary education, served as a language of intimacy, and helped forge the distinctive style that would make him Argentina’s most celebrated writer.

“It was a family matter: Borges was bilingual since birth,” Adur told the Herald. 

Both Georgie and his sister Norah would usually speak English at home. The language came primarily through his grandmother, Fanny Haslam, an English woman from Northumberland, and his father, Jorge Guillermo, who was raised by Fanny after his father died. 

In his autobiography, Borges traced his bilingualism to his two grandmothers, though with a touch of the wit that often colored his recollections. “He said: ‘I knew he spoke one way to my English grandmother — I later learned that was called English — and in another way to his Argentine grandmother — what I later learned was called Spanish.’,” Adur recalls.

English was also Borges’ language of intimacy. “With Estela Canto, Borges often spoke and corresponded in English. In the postcards he sent her, his tone could become almost embarrassingly sentimental. One could say that when it came to his most emotional — even saccharine — expressions, he switched to English,” says Adur.

Although he learned to read and write in Spanish, Borges spent much of his childhood outside the formal school system. His father, distrustful of public schools and their conditions, delayed his enrollment, and Borges was largely educated at home by an English governess while exploring his father’s extensive library........

© Buenos Aires Herald