Gorgeous Borges

Michael Straight · 22 Jun 1998, 08:27 · from urth-v0014.mbox · original

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) Gorgeous Borges
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 08:27:33
Message-ID: <urth-v0014-0068 at digest.urth.net>
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On Fri, 19 Jun 1998, Pedro Jorge Romero wrote:

> Michael Straight escribi=C3=B3:
> >=20
> > I submit Jorge Luis Borges's short story "The Immortal" for the those
> > looking for Lupine precursors.
> >=20
> > The narrator's journey reminds me of tBotNS in ways I can't put my fing=
er
> > on.  The fictitious manuscript and the characters from antiquity remind
> > me of the Soldier books.  But most of all, there is that confusion about
> > the narrator's identity that Wolfe loves so much ("Fondly Fahrenheit" by
> > Alfred Bester also seems like an important story in that regard).
> > Is anyone able to better articulate what is so Wolfeish about this stor=
y?
>=20
> Well, the main character does not know what's really going on... till
> the end.

Also, I forgot to mention that the disposition of the immortals when the
protagonist meets them reminds me somewhat of the episode of Stanislaw
Lem's _Cyberiad_ where one of the constructors visits the most advanced
and powerful planet in the universe.=20

Has Wolfe ventured a public opinion of Lem's work?  Is he a fan?

> I think "The theologians" is a much more interesting story regarding the
> confusion of characters.=20

Mmm. Good one.  It's also more witty, if I remember correctly.
=20
> > P.S. -- Yes, I know how to pronounce 'Borges'.  It was just a joke.
>=20
> ?

i.e. it doesn't really rhyme with 'gorgeous'.

-Rostrum


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