Borges and Postcolonial Studies: Towards the Universal and Back

Abstract

A central writer in Argentina since the 1920s, then hailed in Europe and the United States as a “universal” master since the 1960s, Borges has been both a captivating and a controversial gure for postcolonial and world-literary perspectives since the 1990s. These latter readings contested previous “universalist” ones, generally framed by poststructuralist and postmodern concerns. From Edna Aizenberg’s early “Borges, postcolonial precursor” to Robin Fiddian’s recent Postcolonial Borges, postcolonial readings of Borges have emphasized his belonging either to Buenos Aires, to Latin America, or to the periphery. This article examines how these attempts to reclaim him have been intertwined with political, cultural, and infrastructural transformations, which have accelerated the international circulation of literature while marginalizing its signicance in politics and society.