Profession: essayist

Jorge Luis Borges

J. L. Borges

short-story writer, essayist, poet, translator

1899 (Buenos Aires) – 1986 (Geneva)

Cansinos-Assens was an early mentor to Borges in Madrid. Fernandez was both friend and mentor back in Buenos Aires. Ocampo published his early work, and through her he met Reyes and Bioy Casares, who became a literary collaborator and lifelong friend. Neruda was another good friend, despite differences of opinion, while his relationship with Lorca (who did not like his poetry) was somewhat prickly. He may have met Calvino only once, near the end of their lives. Burgess joked to Borges that their names were the same; they spoke Anglo-Saxon with one another.

Jorge Luis Borges knew…

Francis Ponge

poet, essayist

1899 (Montpellier, France) – 1988 (Le Bar-sur-Loup)

Ponge got to know Picasso, Braque, Giacometti and Hélion — artists he liked to spend time with — through Leiris (whom he accompanied to Algeria). Paulhan published him, but years of delays muddied the waters of their friendship. Duras’ apartment was home to a circle of writers and intellectuals, Ponge among them. Camus sent him the manuscript of ‘The Myth of Sysiphus’, and started a rich correspondence. Paulhan introduced him and Dubuffet to each other, and Sollers published an interview with him.

Francis Ponge knew…

Charles Lamb

Elia

essayist

1775 (London) – 1834 (Edmonton, England)

He knew Coleridge and Leigh Hunt well from schooldays. He swore to look after his sister Mary, to spare her from life imprisonment for matricide (while clearly unbalanced). He met his life-long friend Wordsworth while on holiday with Coleridge. Hazlitt was among those who met weekly at Lamb’s for discussion, cribbage and whist. Shelley, Leigh Hunt and Keats were among his other London friends, united through radicalism. He got de Quincey’s ‘Confessions of an English Opium Eater’ published, while Godwin published the Lambs’ ‘Tales from Shakespeare.’ Haydon included his face in the painting ‘Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem.’

Charles Lamb knew…

Alexander Pope

poet, essayist

1688 (London) – 1744 (Twickenham)

Both Wycherley and Congreve encouraged the young Pope in his career. Swift and Gay, both long and close friends, formed the Scriblerus Club with him and Arbuthnot, and were among the few literary contemporaries he did not attack; he helped Swift with publication of ‘Gulliver’s Travels.’ He was infatuated with Montagu, sending her letters across Europe, and after being rebuffed, publicly turned on her. Writing to Sloane about the grotto he’d had built beneath his house, he got some basalt in return. Voltaire visited him in Twickenham (as did Montesquieu), and lavished praise on his ‘Essay on Man.’

Alexander Pope knew…