Memoranda estética: An Unknown Manuscript by Guillermo de Torre (1924)

Abstract

Guillermo de Torre (1900-1971) was a prominent member of Ul­traism, a progres­sive Spanish movement with ramifications all over Hispanic America. He was later the author of a standard work entitled Literaturas europeas de van­guar­dia (European avant-garde literatures, 1925). Torre was also the brother-in-law of Jorge Luis Borges. The bad relationship between them is well known, at least among specialists, since almost no biography of the Ar­gentinian writer leaves this point untouched. In the document reproduced and commented hereinafter we find one seldom exception, since this time is Torre who criticizes Borges. However, more inte­resting than that is the crisis of which this manuscript bears testimony: Torre’s own deve­lop­ment is the matter of the paper, his self-commitment to adventure and against order.