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Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote Author Biography

Jorge Luis Borges unintentionally helped to found Postmodernism through his blurring of the lines of genre and the borders between fiction and reality. Borges was born in 1899 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to middle-class parents. His father, a lawyer and psychology teacher, taught Borges philosophy and encouraged his love of reading and thinking. His mother came from a long line of freedom fighters, and taught him perseverance. Both parents spoke and read English, as did Borges' paternal grandmother, who lived with them, and the nanny she procured for the family. Ultimately, Borges would be fluent in Spanish, English, French, and German; he learned to read Italian and Latin. He grew to adolescence in Palermo, playing fantasy games in the library and garden with his younger sister Norah, who was his only friend. Jorge (or "Georgie" as his mother called him), translated Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince" into Spanish when he...
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