Friends of Borges

The Friends of Jorge Luis Borges Worldwide Society

"Fame is a form of incomprehension, perhaps the worst."
Jorge Luis Borges


"...the popular cult surrounding Borges, though having certain causes which can be explained, has promote during the last three decades a sad confusion, even in scholars reputedly serious... In the case of Borges, the illiterate are who seem to exercise a determinant influence, passing that of the specialists and much greater than the influence which the works themselves should exercise."
Juan José Saer

Turn on to listen a Shakespeare Song
'Take, O Take Those Lips Away' by Deller Consort

The Society was born the 24th August 2000 out of a longstanding aspiration of a grateful reader: to reunite all readers who acknowledge an intellectual filiation with the works of the intellectual poet Jorge Luis Borges and may desire to share with others the civilizing gifts of Poetry, Philosophy and the Arts.

The Friends of Borges do not follow the superstition that the man was perfect, as it is today the imposture of illegitimate heirs. We rather take his work, as he did and wanted himself, as the work of the Holy Ghost, the Greek Muse or the Unconscious as well as a thread of Ariadne to walk the labyrinths of knowledge in quest of some wisdom.

We are thus persuaded that he who reads a line of Borges exhumes an entire library; such is the treasure of understanding, the intellectual grace and the poetry of his word.

With this declaration of principle in mind, our programs want to encourage the study of Borges, to stimulating thus the personal education of each reader, developing the intellectual faculties and creative talents. In that way, we would like to support the acquisition of Socratic virtues, which Borges held as ethical ideal, in order to educate citizens as responsible actors of their everyday action in the world.

We aim in particular to support younger generations because among their possibilities is to build a better future for mankind.

These pages outline the institutional aims of The Society, as a measure of our hope, and what we have been able to create so far, with true independence from any earthly powers or from the exploitation of anyone else.

Anyone who is committed to the hombría de bien (active kindship) and the ecumenical friendship, praised by Borges as highest virtues of an ethical man, would be very welcome to join in this quite supernatural project which might well take the entire content of our soul.

Read a brief biography on Borges:
"Sir Jorge Luis Borges: Everything and a pound of flesh"
by Miguel-Ángel Meizoso

'The Name of the Rose'
a great tribute to the life & works of Jorge Luis Borges by Umberto Eco

Film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Interpreted by Sean Connery as "William of Baskerville"; Christian Slater as "Aldo de Melk"; Feodor Chaliapin, Jr as "Jorge de Burgos"