Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentine writer who specialized in short stories, poems, and essays. Although he never wrote a novel, he is considered one of the most important writers of his generation, not only in his native Argentina but around the world. His works explored themes such as dreams, labyrinths, chance, infinity, archives, mirrors, fictional writers and mythology, and influenced the magic realist movement in Latin American literature. He was also a prolific translator of English, French, German, and other languages into Spanish, and a literary critic and librarian. He became blind by the age of 55, but continued to write with the help of his mother and friends. He received many awards and honors, including the Formentor Prize, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Cervantes Prize. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1986, at the age of 86.