De escritores y tumbas: trasmundos trasatlánticos de Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar y Carlos FuentesDe escritores y tumbas: trasmundos trasatlánticos de Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar y Carlos Fuentes

Abstract

Borges, Cortázar and Fuentes do not only share a common status as twentieth century Latino-American classics, but also the fact of having being buried in Europe. Beyond the personal and political reasons for this last decision and the controversy it sometimes aroused, such a choice sheds light on the complex relationship between the three authors and their homeland and the importance of the transatlantic bond in their life and work. By comparing the intellectual stance of the three concerning their mortal remains with that of the seventeenth century creole writer Bernardo de Balbuena (1562-1627), this paper aims at showing how the symbolic imbalance created by colonization influences the conception of Europe as the center of a global republic of letters suitable for replacing the ailing Latin-American nation as a place for eternal rest. 

Keywords: Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, colonization, Transatlantic Studies.