Borges's Creative Process Revealed in Madrid Manuscript Exhibition

Madrid is hosting an exhibition that delves into the creative mind of the renowned Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, featuring 16 of his manuscripts. Titled "Borges. Years of Literary Splendor," the display at the Eugenio Trías Municipal Library offers a rare look at the author's meticulous process through his microscopic handwriting, cross-outs, and handwritten corrections on numbered pages.

The exhibition, timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Borges's death and held during the Madrid Book Fair, provides intimate access to the genetic map behind his canonical works created between 1939 and the early 1950s. Visitors can examine the valuable material, displayed in four glass cases, with magnifying glasses available to appreciate Borges's tiny script.

The collection is part of the private holdings of Alejandro Roemmers, which comprises over 30,000 items, including first editions, signed copies, letters, photographs, and objects related to Borges. The exhibition was inaugurated with the presence of Álvaro Vargas Llosa, son of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, along with his mother Patricia and siblings Gonzalo and Morgana.

Mario Vargas Llosa commented on the manuscripts, finding it "very moving" to see the confidence with which Borges penned these small texts that would later become great literary works. He noted how, even in what appears to be the writing of a child, the foundations of a new literature were being laid, one rich with extraordinary mixtures, drawing from the Bible, English literature, Nordic literature, and a deeply learned Spanish.