Resumen de Centennial reflections: Jorge Luis Borges and Churchill
Borges’ thoughts on centenaries evince a complexity that his enthusiasts should bear in mind when hurrying to celebrate his first hundred years in the literary domain. Focusing on the moral paradox of ‘Tema del traidor y del héroe’, this study notes the betrayal of the epic possibilities of a national and family centenary, and finds a similar scepticism in a later poem, ‘Elegía de la patria’. As a counterweight, an essay written in January 1965 on the death of Winston Churchill advocates forms of commemoration that are free of pomp, are compatible with irony and have a sense of beauty.
