Kirjahaku

Octavio Paz (1914–1998), the eminent Mexican poet and critic, attempted to evaluate the neglected role of poetry in the twentieth century in terms of a liberating, semi-religious vocation. Jason Wilson, in this study, approaches Paz's poetics through his close relationship with André Breton (1896–1966), the surrealist leader. This is a 'spiritual biography' of a poet-thinker (Paz); a study of a fertile relationship (Paz and Breton); a re-evaluation of surrealism itself and, finally, a coping with those acute problems that all poets and readers of poetry must face in an age lacking an acceptable cultural tradition: why write? What is a poem? Who are the genuine poets? Who am I? Wilson analyses Paz's reaction to these related concerns in the poet's examination of 'the values of poetry' in terms of a liberating poetics.

Whether for tango, football or art, passions in Buenos Aires run high. The largest city in Argentina, it is chaotic and lively, dangerous and cosmopolitan, and presents seemingly unlimited attractions for tourists. This book provides a view into the city today, and into its past. Europeans colonized Buenos Aires in the 16th century, and from this modest start it had boomed by the end of the nineteenth century. Its history is one of excesses and swings between authoritarian and democratic governments. By examining Buenos Aires' past, we can appreciate what remains as story, urban myth, or reality. Jason Wilson explores the history behind the monuments, buildings, and people of the city. Essays on present-day Buenos Aires - its parks, cemeteries, museums and bookshops - reveal what makes the city tick, while listings provide handy references for the traveler. Buenos Aires, one of the first titles in the innovative 'CityScopes' series, is an authoritative introduction and intimate guide to the past and present of a vibrant, fascinating city.

'Through the years, a man peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, tools, stars, horses and people. Shortly before his death, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the image of his own face'. These words, inseparably marrying life and work, encapsulate how Jorge Luis Borges interwove the two throughout his legendary literary career. But the Borges of popular imagination is the celebrated, blind librarian and man of letters; few biographers have explored his tumultuous early life in the streets and cafes of Buenos Aires, a young man searching for his path in the world. In "Jorge Luis Borges", Jason Wilson uncovers the young poet who wrote, loved, and lost with adventurous passion, and considers the later work, life and travels of the writer who claimed to have never created a character: 'It's always me, subtly disguised'. Born in Buenos Aires in 1899, Jorge Luis Borges was a voracious reader from childhood, perhaps in part because he knew he lived under a sentence of adult-onset blindness inherited from his father. Wilson chronicles Borges' life as he raced against time and his fated blindness, charting the literary friendships, love affairs and polemical writings that formed the foundation of his youth. Illuminating the connections running between the biography and fictions of Borges, Wilson traces the outline of this self-effacing literary figure. Though in his later writings Borges would subjugate emotion to the wild play of ideas, "Jorge Luis Borges" reminds us that he was always a poet whose life was recreated subtly in his work but never in confessional ways and restores his Argentine roots. It will be an invaluable resource for all those who treasure this modern master.