Borges and Me

by Jay Parini

Reviewed by Mitch Glassman

In this engaging and profoundly enjoyable novelistic memoir, Jay Parini recalls his coming of age as a graduate student while facing the Viet Nam War draft, going to St. Andrews in Scotland, and encountering Jorge Luis Borges, the brilliant Argentinian writer. The encounter is at once comic, entertaining, and lighthearted yet still deeply soul searching as an exploration of self-identity and that of the other.

On his journey in Scotland, the reader meets several persons who challenge the author’s maturation as a young man and as an artist. For this reader, witnessing the blending and interplay of the internal voice and the public voice of both the author and Borges was particularly enriching.  A sort of palimpsest evolves where the layers inform one another and their boundaries are blurred. 

Not unlike all beautifully executed poems or crafted fine art, the reader is invited to experience Parini’s journey on their own terms. Regardless of their personal take on it, they undoubtedly will enjoy the beauty of his poetic language:  “The light was palpable, soft, succulent. I could taste the pink-orange of the clouds as the sun pulsed and shone in the water. The sea itself was a sprawl of diamonds.” (Borges and Me, p. 296.)