In 1921, a well-to-do Argentine family arrived in Buenos Aires on a grand transatlantic ship, the Reina Victoria Eugenia.
If they were on deck to watch the city come into view after seven years
in Europe and a three-week ocean crossing, they would have first seen
the curved art nouveau facade of the Argentine Yacht Club at the port’s entrance, its spire evocative of a lighthouse; then they may have noted the belle epoque
customs house, which rose higher than the loading cranes and warehouses
of the Dársena Norte port complex; and finally, once they arrived at
the passenger pier, they would have seen the crowd eagerly awaiting the
ship. On that pier, if we are to trust the memory of Jorge Luis Borges,
began the most pivotal friendship in Argentina’s 20th century literary
history...
Macedonio Fernández: The Man Who Invented Borges
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