A review by greenej
Borges and Me: An Encounter by Jay Parini
3.0
Utterly charming work of autofiction, with insight into both Borges and George Mackay Brown. Parini takes us on a wonderful journey through his own life and struggles as a young man, as well as the Scottish highlands, Orkney, and the mind and personality of figures like Borges, Alastair Reid, and George Mackay Brown.
My only beef with the book was my discovery, upon reading the afterword, that key aspects of the work are fabricated. The book reads like a novel, and indeed Parini refers to it as a "novelistic memoir" or "Borgesian fiction. Several key characters are actually composites of many people, for example. Yet the book was presented by the publisher as memoir and most reviews refer to it as such. In at least one instance the book quotes Mackay Brown saying something to Parini that was published in Brown's autobiography. On reflection, it seems many of Borges' statements came not from Parini's memory but from Borges' published writings. I'm fascinated by autofiction, and by the elision of fact into fiction. But when it's called a memoir I want to trust the author and know that the basic details are accurate. Don't you?
My only beef with the book was my discovery, upon reading the afterword, that key aspects of the work are fabricated. The book reads like a novel, and indeed Parini refers to it as a "novelistic memoir" or "Borgesian fiction. Several key characters are actually composites of many people, for example. Yet the book was presented by the publisher as memoir and most reviews refer to it as such. In at least one instance the book quotes Mackay Brown saying something to Parini that was published in Brown's autobiography. On reflection, it seems many of Borges' statements came not from Parini's memory but from Borges' published writings. I'm fascinated by autofiction, and by the elision of fact into fiction. But when it's called a memoir I want to trust the author and know that the basic details are accurate. Don't you?