Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction / Federico Fridman -- Part 1. Life and Literature at the Edge -- 1. Jorge Luis Borges and Macedonio Fernǹdez: History of a Literary Friendship / Mónica Bueno -- 2. Heroes without Selves: Macedonio Fernǹdez and a New Ethics of the Heroic / Todd S. Garth -- 3. Consuelo-Eterna, Macedonio's Erotic and Metaphysical Passion / Ana Camblong -- 4. Macedonio Fernǹdez's Neighborhood Metaphysics: Belarte, the Fool of Buenos Aires, and the Evidential Siesta / Gonzalo S. Aguirre -- Part 2. Philosophy, Affects, and Politics -- 5. Macedonio Fernǹdez: The First Egocide in the Ro̕ de la Plata / Diego Vecchio -- 6. A Metaphysics That Only Begins: On Macedonio's Writing Passion / Julio Prieto -- 7. Songs without a Self: Macedonio's Anarchist Aesthetics / Luis Othoniel Rosa -- 8. The Thought of Macedonio Fernǹdez: A Dictionary / Daniel Attala -- Part 3. Metaphysics on the Move -- 9. Notes on Macedonio in a Diary / Ricardo Piglia -- 10. What Is Believing? / Horacio González -- 11. No hay Proa sin Popa (There Is No Bow without the Stern) / Liliana Weinberg -- Notes on Contributors -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary:
"At Macedonio Fernández's funeral in 1952, Jorge Luis Borges delivered the following elegy: "In those years I imitated him to the point of transcription, to the point of devout and passionate plagiarism. I felt: Macedonio is metaphysics, Macedonio is literature." This is the first book available in English that collects essays by the world's leading scholars on Macedonio Fernández, one of Borges's most important mentors and a still enigmatic thinker of the early 20th century. Macedonio's philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and experimental writing laid the foundations for Borges's own theoretical and literary matrix. Nonetheless, Borges helped shape a myth of Macedonio as a thinker who could not translate his oratorial geniality into written intelligibility. So, despite the centrality of Macedonio to Borges's thought, his work has remained almost unknown to English-speaking readers. Contributors to this volume demonstrate, however, that this myth reduces the complexities of Macedonio's life and creative process, as each chapter shines new light on his texts. Conceived as both a companion for new readers of Macedonio's writings and an invitation for specialists to revisit his work through new perspectives, essays in this volume provide extensive background and bibliographical references, as well as English translations of Macedonio's original texts. This collection seeks to serve as a catalyst for the continued discovery and rediscovery of Macedonio Fernández's texts and the ways they might help us to rediscover the singularities of our own present moment"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.