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DFW Reviews a Borges Biography

In this Sunday's New York Times, one of my favorite authors reviews a biography of another of my favorite authors. David Foster Wallace's quirky style seems a bit restrained here, perhaps at the behest of stuffy editors--although there are footnotes, and I don't ever recall reading the word "bluck" in the NYT before, and I'm hoping to see "pontine" show up in a word-of-the-day newsletter sometime soon.

Wallace clearly understands Jorge Luis Borges and rightly credits him as one of the more important links between modern and post-modern literature. Alas, according to DFW, Edwin Williamson's Borges: A Life is not nearly so insightful, his interpretations of Borges' writing are so far off as to be almost comical. Using an Oprah-like inquiry into Borges' chilhood and lovelife as the key to understanding Borges' writing, Williamson totally misses the point of Borges carefully crafted, depersonalized, and timeless stories.

Instead, the best parts of the book look at Borges' life in the tumultuous cultural political backdrop of mid-20th century Argentina. In fact, the historical context sonds so intriguing, that the book sounds as if it might be worth looking into.