At the age of 86, Mary Kodama passed away in Vicente López, Buenos Aires, after battling breast cancer. Kodama had married Jorge Luis Borges in 1986, just months before his death, and was also a translator and professor of Letters. She had shared with Borges the compilation and translation of texts, such as Brief Anglo-Saxon Anthology, and presided over the Jorge Luis Borges International Foundation. Kodama had been recognized for her contribution to the dissemination of the Borgean universe and had published several works, including La divisa punzó and Homenaje a Borges. Kodama and Borges had met in literary study sessions, and despite their age difference, they began to publicly appear together. In a recent interview, Kodama had expressed her view on marriage and having children.
She was 86 years old and was going through breast cancer. He chaired the Jorge Luis Borges International Foundation and directed the literary magazines Prisma and Proa.
At 86, the writer Mary Kodamawidow of Jorge Luis Borges, died in the Buenos Aires city of Vicente López after suffering from breast cancer.
Kodama, born on March 10, 1937 and daughter of Yosaburo Kodama and María Antonia Schweizer, had married Borges in 1986, months before his death. She was also a translator and professor of Letters.
As shared by his lawyer, Fernando Soto, on his Twitter account: “Your friend and your lawyer say goodbye to you. Now you will enter the ‘great sea’ with your dear Borges. May Maria Rest in Peace.”
At the end of last year, he had published the book “La divisa punzó” (South American), co-authored with the lawyer Claudia Farías G.. The title is a direct reference to that political symbol – a strip of intense red color, which replica on the cover of the book – used by the federals who followed Juan Manuel de Rosas during his second government, between 1835 and 1852, in the territory of the Province of Buenos Aires.
Widow of Borges, she shared with him the compilation and translation of the texts of Brief Anglo-Saxon Anthology, the writing of Atlas, the translation of The Hallucination of Gylfi by Snorri Sturluson, and that of The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, which also Foreword.
He presided over the Jorge Luis Borges International Foundation, which he created in 1988, and directed the biannual literary magazines Prisma and Proa. Permanently invited by universities and cultural institutions from the West and East, she toured the world giving lectures on Borges and his work.
In 2016 he published Homenaje a Borges and in 2017, Relatos, both by Sudamericana. His contribution to the dissemination of the Borgean universe has been recognized with innumerable distinctions.
Kodama and Borges met in literary study sessions thanks to her degree in Literature and their shared interest in Anglo-Saxon languages in the 1960s. He was 38 years older than her. A few years later they began to be shown in public.
“When they talked to me about wives, I only knew the ones they put on prisoners. I didn’t want to get married to be a prisoner, let alone have children that would absorb my whole life,” Kodama had said about her relationship with the writer in a recent interview.
The passing of Maria Kodama is a loss for the literary world and especially for those who cherished the works of her late husband, Jorge Luis Borges. As president of the Jorge Luis Borges International Foundation, Kodama dedicated herself to preserving and promoting his legacy, and her contributions to the dissemination of his work have been widely recognized. Her passing marks the end of an era, but her impact will continue to be celebrated and honored for generations to come. Rest in peace, Maria Kodama.