Chapter 12 - The Argentine Writer and Tradition

Summary

In a landmark lecture of 1951, Borges maintained that Argentine writers have legitimate access to a multiplicity of cultural traditions, rejecting as parochial the view that an authentic Argentine literary expression should adhere to the stylistic and thematic norms of Gauchesque literature. Regarding the Western tradition, he reorganized its canon by subverting the hierarchical conventions of literary history, as well as bringing to the forefront a number of non-Western traditions both secular and religious. His approach to questions of language changes over the decades. ’Death and the Compass’ arguably captures a moment of tension between the past and the present in which a new artistic expression comes to life.