Could Jorge Luis Borges have had a fiancée who was on the blacklists of the dictatorship? Is it possible that the writer – the one who dined with Jorge Rafael Videla, the staunch anti-Peronist, the one who described himself as a "conservative anarchist" – could have fallen in love with a woman whose ideas or actions would have led to her being classified as a "Category 4" individual?
According to one of the documents from the dictatorship, which is part of the declassified collection, a "Category 4" individual was someone with "Marxist ideological leanings."
The woman who was classified in this way is a writer: Estela Canto. And yes, in 1956, she joined the Communist Party.
Estela and Jorge Luis met in 1944 at the home of Adolfo Bioy Casares. According to her own account in "Borges in Reverse Light," their first encounter was unremarkable. She found him less attractive than she had expected. Canto recounts:
"I didn't make a good impression on him, nor did he on me. When Adolfito introduced us, he extended his hand in a distracted manner and immediately turned his large blue eyes in another direction. It was almost rude and unexpected."
Of course, it was unexpected. Canto was attractive, a slender brunette with dark eyes. She was also rebellious, with a thirst for adventure and sexual freedom. When they met, he was 45 years old, and she was 28.
It took another encounter and a long walk for a spark to ignite. Especially in his heart, to which he dedicated his short story "The Aleph." And that he...
AI Brief
The influential writer Estela Canto in a portrait from the era, with an overlaid document highlighting her profession. Could a girlfriend of Jorge Luis Borges have been on the blacklists of the dictatorship? Is it possible that the writer – the one who went to dinner with Jorge Rafael Videla, the staunch anti-Peronist, the one who defined himself as a "conservative anarchist" – had fallen in love with a woman whose ideas or actions would have led her to be classified as "Formula 4"? Formula 4 was – according to one of the documents from the dictatorship that is part of the declassified collection – someone who had "Marxist ideological antecedents." The woman who was classified in this way is a writer: Estela Canto. And yes, in 1956, she joined the Communist Party. Estela and Jorge Luis met in 1944 at the home of Adolfo Bioy Casares. According to her own account in "Borges in Reverse Light," nothing happened the first time they met. She found him less attractive than she expected. Canto recounts: "I didn't impress him, either positively or negatively. When Adolfito introduced us, he shook my hand absentmindedly and immediately turned his large blue eyes in another direction. It was almost rude. And unexpected." Estela Canto and Jorge Luis Borges, on a walk. She was rebellious, sexually liberal, and a communist. Those who were classified as "Formula 4" faced a near-total ban on participating in the cultural, academic, and professional life of the country. Although the regime claimed that the classification only applied to the public administration, the reality was that it was difficult for anyone to want to employ a person with such a label. Among the 331 intellectuals, artists, journalists, and cultural figures included on the "Formula 4" list were some of the most iconic names in 20th-century Argentine culture. The list included writers such as Julio Cortázar, Abelardo Castillo, and Francisco Urondo; musicians such as Mercedes Sosa, Osvaldo Pugliese, Atahualpa Yupanqui, and María Elena Walsh; actors and actresses such as Héctor Alterio, Norma Aleandro, and Federico Luppi; filmmakers such as Leonardo Favio and Pino Solanas; and journalists such as Osvaldo Bayer, Tomás Eloy Martínez, and Jacobo Timerman. On the fourth page of this list, with number 56, was the name of Estela Canto. In addition to her articles and translations, Canto was also a consistent narrator. Among her books are "The Marble Wall," "The Portrait and the Image," "The Mirrors of Shadow," "The Others, the Masks," and "Night Round." She died in 1994 in the city of Buenos Aires.