Emir Rodríguez Monegal (28 July 1921 – 14 November 1985), born in Uruguay, was a scholar, literary critic, and editor of Latin American literature. From 1969 to 1985, Rodríguez Monegal was professor of Latin American contemporary literature at Yale University. He is usually called by his second surname Emir R. Monegal or Monegal (or erroneously Emir Rodríguez-Monegal). Described as "one of the most influential Latin American literary critics of the 20th century" by the Encyclopædia Britannica, Monegal wrote key books about Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges, and the Britannica Macropædia notice of the later. He was a part in "The Boom" of 1960s Latin American literature as founder and 1966–1968 editor of his influential magazine Mundo Nuevo. Umberto Eco was quoted in saying that Jorge Luis Borges had read almost everything but no one knew that indiscernable totallity better than Emir. He is remembered as a member of the Generation of 45, a Uruguayan intellectual and literary movement: Carlos Maggi, Manuel Flores Mora, Ángel Rama, Idea Vilariño, Carlos Real de Azúa, Carlos Martínez Moreno, Mario Arregui, Mauricio Muller, José Pedro Díaz, Amanda Berenguer, Tola Invernizzi, Mario Benedetti, Ida Vitale, Líber Falco, Juan Cunha, Juan Carlos Onetti, among others. Biography Early career (1921–1965) In 1921, Emir Rodríguez Monegal was born on 28 July in Melo, Cerro Largo, Uruguay. He had the double-barrelled name Rodríguez Monegal (erroneously "Rodríguez-Monegal" in some texts) but was often referred to as R. Monegal or Monegal only, a Spanish naming custom when the first surname is extremely common. From 1945 to 1957 (age 24 to 36), he edited the literary section of the Montevideo weekly Marcha. He was one of the first to recognize early on the importance of Borges, seeing him and his family frequently after 1945, and taking him for model to the point of pastiche. Conversely, he got a cameo in a pseudo-autobiographical Borges short story: In 1949 (age 28), he won a scholarship from the British Council for a year's study at the University of Cambridge; he went to study under F. R. Leavis and complete a project on Andrés Bello. During 1949 to 1955 (age 28 to 34), he was also editor of Número, a Montevideo literary magazine. In 1952, he became friend with Pablo Neruda, who would later lend him his intimate papers for Monegal's biography of Neruda. In 1956 (age 35), Monegal obtained the equivalent of a PhD at