Georgie and Elsa: Jorge Luis Borges and His Wife: The Untold Story by Norman Thomas di Giovanni

Author:Norman Thomas di Giovanni [Giovanni, Norman Thomas di]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

18. New York and the Fur Coat

We were in New York for the rest of that week. At the end of it, Heather and I went up to New England to visit our families, while Georgie and Elsa returned to Buenos Aires.

Meanwhile, to Elsa’s galloping chagrin, the nutria had gone to ground somewhere between Norman and New York. This predicament possessed and obsessed her. She hardly left Borges alone, with worry and with a disgust for his inaction. I could only tell her that the coat would turn up and that our publisher would send it round to her consulate, which would put the poor beleaguered fur onto an Argentine flight.

A few days later, attending our last New York event, a cocktail party given by the consulate, Elsa went into action. She cornered – literally – the Argentine ambassador and filled him in at length on what had happened to her coat and on the failed promises of the University of Oklahoma. The ambassador nodded and nodded but could not work himself out from her clutches. Two or three times he promised her that the moment her fur arrived in New York he would see that it reached the consulate and from there made its way to an aeroplane.

While this went on, Georgie sat in another corner of the room being badgered by someone in publishing who wanted him to write an article for him. Naturally, Borges agreed.

The ambassador caught my eye and approached me across the room. Nodding his head in the direction of Elsa, he whispered, ‘Di Giovanni, I feel sympathy for you.’

Elsa liked nothing better than rubbing shoulders and getting chummy with Argentine diplomatic officials. The ambassador must have given her a shred of hope and comfort, because she immediately relaxed and freely partook of, or freely stuffed herself on, all the rich foods the party could offer. As a result, she spent the last day of her New York visit in bed, at death’s door, suffering from a liver complaint. It wasn’t until an hour before take-off that we knew whether or not she would be able to leave the country.

Let us summarize. Elsa left her fur coat behind in Oklahoma and Borges’s overcoat behind in New York. Two books on Persian mysticism that a publisher made Borges gifts of she jettisoned. In this way she had room to carry back her own new wardrobe and trinkets.

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