What is it about?
Artist Norah Borges (Buenos Aires, 1901-1998) emerged as a coveted illustrator of literary texts in the 1920s in both Argentina and Spain. This article examines three of her most interesting projects to see how she brought her own interpretation to the texts she was asked to illustrate: Canciones de mar y tierra (1930) by Concha Méndez; Platero y yo (1943 ed.) by Juan Ramón Jiménez, and Paul et Virginie (1946 ed.) by Bernardin de Saint Pierre.
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Why is it important?
The article shows how an illustrator helps to shape our interpretation of literary texts. In this particular case Norah Borges brings a particular vision of femininity and of children to the texts, tinged with a romanticism that marked her 'return to her order' after a brief foray into ultraismo.
Perspectives
Critics are at odds about how to read Norah Borges's vindication of a cultural femininity (or femininity of difference). This article suggests that we can read her values in the works she illustrated as well as in the works she executed as independent works of art.
Dr Roberta Ann Quance
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This page is a summary of: The Practice of Book Illustration: Three Examples by Norah Borges, Romance Studies, January 2009, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1179/174581509x398037.
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