Leonor Rita Acevedo Suárez (Buenos Aires, May 22, 1876–Buenos Aires, July 8, 1975) was the mother of the

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

author

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

, and a major figure in his life and work.

Life

Leonor Rita Acevedo Suárez was born in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, the daughter of Isidoro Acevedo Laprida (1828-?) and Leonor Suárez Haedo de Acevedo (1837–1918). She married

Jorge Guillermo Borges Jorge Guillermo Borges (24 February 1874 – 14 February 1938) was an Argentine lawyer, teacher, writer, philosopher and translator. He was also an anarchist and a follower of Herbert Spencer's philosophy. He's also a notable figure for being Jorge ...

, a lawyer with literary aspirations, by whom she had two children: Jorge Luis and

Norah Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (born 1931), French historian Places Australia * Norah Head, New South Wales, headlan ...

. As her husband's sight deteriorated, she assisted him with his reading and dictation, services which she would later provide to her son as he succumbed to the same hereditary blindness. She produced several translations from English and French. Her output includes "

The Woman Who Rode Away "The Woman who Rode Away" is a short story by D. H. Lawrence. It was written in New Mexico during the summer of 1924 and first published in ''The Dial'' in two installments in 1925. It later became the title story for a collection of Lawrence's ...

" by

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, '' The Human Comedy'' by

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and

Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

's ''

If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem ''If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner published in 1939. The novel was originally published under the title ''The Wild Palms'', which is the title of one of the two interwoven stories. This title was ...

'', among other works. Leonor was known for her forceful personality and vitality. Tomás Eloy Martínez writes that when Borges visited the

University of Texas in Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1961, his mother was eighty-five but appeared much younger; as she walked about on her son's arm, many students assumed she was the author's wife.

Death

Leonor Acevedo Suárez died in 1975, aged 99. At her wake, a woman paid her respects and remarked, "Poor little Leonor, to die so close to turning a hundred. If only she'd waited a little longer..." to which Borges replied, "I see, madam, that you're a devotee of the decimal system."Referred by Roberto Alifano
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Notes

References

* Borges, Jorge Luis; Ferrari, Osvaldo. ''En diálogo / I.'' Mexico: siglo xxi, 2005;
Googlebooks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acevedo Suarez, Leonor 1876 births 1975 deaths People from Buenos Aires Jorge Luis Borges Argentine translators English–Spanish translators French–Spanish translators Portuguese–Spanish translators Argentine writers in French Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Argentine people of Spanish descent Uruguayan emigrants to Argentina Argentine Roman Catholics Patrician families of Buenos Aires