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September 04, 2004
The Zahir
At least two books have the quality that I can reread them repeatedly, perhaps even again and again without putting them down, and yet the more I reread, the less I feel I've understood. One is VALIS from Philip K. Dick. Another is a collection of stories and essays from Jorge Luis Borges called Labyrinths.
In The Zahir, Borges almost recounts the story of himself writing what James E. Irby rendered into English as The House of Asterion. So if you recall a slightly misremembered House of Asterion while reading about unforgettables in The Zahir, you wonder what it was, thinking perhaps Borges means for us to understand it was whomever Clementina Villar stands for, rather than some small chunk of change with a couple of scratches.
What elaborate and elegant modesty! To this guy Zappa would say, "Find her finer..."
Posted by Mark at September 4, 2004 09:03 PM