“Translation is an art.” #borges #20BOS26 Book 28

It was inevitable that after finishing “Trafalgar”, with its echoes of Borges (amongst others), that I would be drawn towards a book by or about him; and I realised I had the perfect title on the TBR which chimed in with my current reading mood completely. That book is “The Lesson of the Master: On Borges and his Work” by Norman Thomas di Giovanni, and it’s a relatively recent arrival at the Ramblings. I came across mention of it when I was digging about online to try to find out what other translations of Borges were available, specifically by di Giovanni; from what I’ve seen, his versions are very highly regarded by some readers, and when you add in the fact that he actually worked alongside Borges for a number of years on these, that makes his work very appealing. I’m still on the hunt for his translations, but this volume, which brings together a series of essays and memoirs about the great writer, sounded perfect. Borges and di Giovanni met in 1967 whilst the Argentine writer was…