Editing Jorge Luis Borges (section)

===Later career===
[[File:JorgeLuisBorges.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Borges in the 1940s]]
Borges's father died in 1938, shortly before his 64th birthday. On [[Christmas Eve]] that year, Borges had a severe head injury; during treatment, he nearly died of [[sepsis]].<ref>Castillo-Torres, S. A., et. al. (2021). "The books and the night", neurological perspective on Jorge Luis Borges’ blindness. ''Gaceta médica de México'', 155(5). https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0016-38132019000500516&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en</ref> While recovering from the accident, Borges began exploring  a new style of writing for which he would become famous.<ref>Toibin, C. (2006) Don't abandon me. Review of ''Borges: A Life'' by Edwin Williamson. ''London Review of Books, 28''(9). https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n09/colm-toibin/don-t-abandon-me</ref> His first story written after his accident, "[[Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote|Pierre Menard, Author of the ''Quixote'']]," came out in May 1939. One of his most famous works, "Menard", examines the nature of authorship, as well as the relationship between an author and his historical context. His first collection of short stories, ''[[El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan]]'' (''[[The Garden of Forking Paths]]''), appeared in 1941, composed mostly of works previously published in ''Sur''.<ref Name="LRB"/>

The title story concerns a Chinese professor in England, Dr. Yu Tsun, who spies for Germany during World War I, in an attempt to prove to the authorities that an Asian person is able to obtain the information that they seek. A combination of book and maze, it can be read in many ways. Through it, Borges arguably invented the [[hypertext fiction|hypertext]] novel and went on to describe a theory of the universe based upon the structure of such a novel.<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Bolter|first1=Jay David|last2=Joyce|first2=Michael|title=Hypertext and Creative Writing|book-title=Hypertext '87 Papers|year=1987|publisher=ACM|pages=41–50|url=http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=317431}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Moulthrop|first=Stuart|editor1-last=Delany|editor1-first=Paul|editor2-last=Landow|editor2-first=George P.|title=Hypermedia and Literary Studies|url=https://archive.org/details/hypermedialitera0000dela|url-access=registration|chapter=Reading From the Map: Metonymy and Metaphor in the Fiction of 'Forking Paths'|publisher=The MIT Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0-585-35444-6|place=Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England}}</ref>

Composed of stories taking up over sixty pages, the book was generally well received, but ''El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan'' failed to garner for him the literary prizes many in his circle expected.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enotes.com/poetry-criticism/borges-jorge-luis|title=Borges, Jorge Luis (Vol.32)|publisher=enotes|access-date=3 December 2008}}</ref><ref>Wardrip-Fruin, Noah & Montfort, Nick (2003). ''The New Media Reader''. MIT Press.</ref> Victoria Ocampo dedicated a large portion of the July 1942 issue of ''Sur'' to a "Reparation for Borges". Numerous leading writers and critics from Argentina and throughout the Spanish-speaking world contributed writings to the "reparation" project.

With his vision beginning to fade in his early thirties and unable to support himself as a writer, Borges began a new career as a public lecturer.<ref group='Note' name='a'>"His was a particular kind of blindness, grown on him gradually since the age of thirty and settled in for good after his fifty-eighth birthday." From [[Alberto Manguel|Manguel, Alberto]] (2006) ''With Borges''. London: Telegram Books, pp. 15–16.</ref><ref>[[Alberto Manguel]] (2006) ''With Borges'', London: Telegram Books, pp. 15–16.</ref><ref>Woodall, J.: ''The Man in Mirror of the Book, A Life of Luis Borges'', (1996), Hodder and Stoughton, pxxx<!-- find? -->.</ref> He became an increasingly public figure, obtaining appointments as president of the Argentine Society of Writers and as professor of English and American Literature at the Argentine Association of English Culture. His short story "[[Emma Zunz]]" was made into a film (under the name of ''[[Días de odio]]'', ''Days of Hate'', directed in 1954 by [[Leopoldo Torre Nilsson]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046947|title=Days of Hate|date=3 June 1954|publisher=Imdb|access-date=4 December 2008}}</ref> Around this time, Borges also began writing screenplays.

The American novelist [[William Faulkner]] was already a well-known writer in the Spanish-speaking world when Borges translated his novel ''The Wild Palms'' in 1940. Borges was a great admirer of Faulkner, but it is likely that his choice to translate a lesser novel was born out of opportunity and need. The novel had been published in the US in 1939, and Borges may have needed the money such work would bring. Nevertheless, his translation formed an indelible bridge between contemporary Latin American literature and the writer of the southern United States. Borges' intuitive understanding of and ability to render Faulkner's style was an important influence on a later generation of writers such as [[Juan Rulfo]], [[Mario Vargas Llosa]], and [[Gabriel García Márquez]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stavans |first=Ilan |date=2001 |title= Beyond Translation: Borges and Faulkner |url= https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=mqr;c=mqr;c=mqrarchive;idno=act2080.0040.404;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=mqrg|journal=Michigan Quarterly Review |volume=XL |issue=4 |publisher=University of Michigan|access-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Day |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Day |date=1980 |title=Borges, Faulkner, and The Wild Palms|journal=Virginia Quarterly Review |volume=56 |issue=1 |publisher=University of Virginia}}</ref>

In 1955, Borges became director of the Argentine National Library. By the late 1950s he had become completely blind. Neither the coincidence nor the irony of his blindness as a writer escaped Borges:<ref Name="LRB"/>

{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-break}}
<poem>
''Nadie rebaje a lágrima o reproche''
''esta declaración de la maestría''
''de Dios, que con magnífica ironía''
''me dio a la vez los libros y la noche.''
</poem>
{{Col-break}}
<poem>
(No one should read self-pity or reproach
Into this statement of the majesty
Of God; who with such splendid irony,
At one touch granted me books and night.)<ref>Jorge Luis Borges (1984) ''Seven Nights'', A New Directions Book pp 109–110.</ref>
</poem>
{{Col-end}}

His later collection of poetry, ''Elogio de la Sombra'' (''In Praise of Darkness''),<ref>''Elogio de la Sombra'', 1969, poetry. English title ''In Praise of Darkness'', 1974; {{ISBN|0-525-03635-0}}.</ref> develops this theme. In 1956 the [[University of Cuyo]] awarded Borges the first of many honorary doctorates and the following year he received the National Prize for Literature.<ref name="Burgin">Burgin (1988) p xvii<!-- needs help --></ref> From 1956 to 1970, Borges also held a position as a professor of literature at the [[University of Buenos Aires]] and other temporary appointments at other universities.<ref Name="Burgin"/> He received a British [[List of honorary British knights and dames|honorary knighthood]] in 1964.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The American Hispanist |publisher=American Hispanist |year=1975 |pages=3 |language=en}}</ref> In the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968, he delivered the [[Charles Eliot Norton Lectures]] at [[Harvard University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Craft of Verse: The Norton Lectures, 1967–68|url=http://www.ubu.com/sound/borges.html|work=UbuWeb: Sound|access-date=1 January 2014}}</ref>

As his eyesight deteriorated, Borges relied increasingly on his mother's help.<ref Name="Burgin"/> When he was not able to read and write anymore (he never learned to read [[Braille]]), his mother, to whom he had always been close, became his personal secretary.<ref Name="Burgin"/> When [[Juan Perón|Perón]] returned from exile and was re-elected president in 1973, Borges immediately resigned as director of the National Library.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Borges|first1=Jorge Luis|title=Jorge Luis Borges: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)|date=2013|publisher=Melville House|isbn=978-1-61219-204-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68R9VS3WHPwC&pg=PT139}}</ref>