turner@ucbesvax.UUCP (03/01/84)
As far as I know, few, if any, books "reviewed" by Borges actually exist. He is famous for this. Borges is a lot of fun--he sometimes makes up a word or name in one story, then uses it in a different sense in another. Theodore Sturgeon's gems notwithstanding, he writes the caviar of fantasy. --- Michael Turner (ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner)
karl@dartvax.UUCP (Karl Berry) (03/03/84)
I recently picked up a copy of The Aleph and Other Stories, mostly at the
urging of Harlan Ellison's introduction to Totenbuch, and the third story
is The Approach to al-Matrasiz. Oops, that's not quite the right title,
but I forgot to write it down. Anyway, it's ostensibly a book review of
the book A Man called al-Matrasiz. ( May as well be consistently wrong. )
Ostensibly. Does anyone know whether or not this book actually existed, if
Borges is truly doing a book review, or is he making it up? I suspect the
latter, but it's done very well. ( Well enough so as to leave doubt in my
mind... )
{decvax,cornell}!dartvax!karl