SOURCE: “For the Love of Borges,” in Américas, Vol. 49, No. 2, March-April, 1997, pp. 18-25.

In the following essay, Durbin recounts the history of Borges's relationship with María Kodama, whom he married shortly before his death.

The year 1996 marked the tenth anniversary of the death of Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina's greatest writer, variously hailed as the father of Latin American magic realism, a master stylist of the Spanish language, and, some even claim, the world's last literary giant. Around the globe, commemorative events unfolded over several months, paying tribute to his genius and his achievements. But the prelude to all this, held during November 1995 in Buenos Aires's municipal Centro Cultural Recoleta, emphasized the man himself, his humanity, his heart: From Borges to María Kodama, an exhibition of forty-two paintings by the cream of Argentine artists, each selected to illustrate a line or verse the poet had dedicated...