321:
calls a "Borgesian device," both imparts a real feeling to the fictional, and an unreal feeling to the real. Also, the use of a summary within a summary, and the taking of those summaries and stripping them down to expose the same principle "are a form of expressing in the structure of the story the
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describes the reviewer of the detective story as "a typical Borges narrator". At times he demonstrates great knowledge of detailed information, but at other times he cannot grasp the most basic concepts. His narrative is uncertain and inconstant. His confusion serves to emphasize the incomprehension
242:
The reviewer gives a history of the book, first describing the success of the first edition, the publishing of the second edition by a respected publisher in London, and the positive and negative reception given to it by critics. Borges states that though both books have been popular, the first had
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273:
of India. He flees to a tower where he meets a robber of Parsee corpses collecting gold teeth. He then begins a journey across the subcontinent (the geography of which Borges describes in detail), interacting with untouchables along the way. He meets a man who, though destitute, is happy and
162:. In his autobiographical essay, Borges wrote about "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim", "it now seems to me to foreshadow and even to set the pattern for those tales that were somehow awaiting me, and upon which my reputation as a storyteller was to be based."
282:
means "he who goes in quest of aid" or "the seeker of shelter".) This perfect man is a higher spiritual being, the source and originator of this pure spiritual clarity. Obsessed with meeting Al-Mu'tasim, the student goes on a pilgrimage through
243:
an original printing of 4,000 copies and was never reprinted, while the second is by far the better known, having been reprinted several times. The second has often been criticized for poor writing and for its obvious
340:
In his autobiographical essay, Borges writes that when "The
Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" was first published, the people who read it "took it at face value, and one of my friends even ordered a copy from London."
287:
to find him. He eventually hears the voice of the Al-Mu'tasim resounding from a hut. He pulls back the curtain and goes in. The book ends at this point. The reviewer then gives his criticisms of the work.
353:
named their 2016 album, Shifting
Mirrors, after the subtitle of Bahadur's fictional book mentioned in the short story. The album also contains a track named after The Approach To Al-Mu'Tasim.
274:
spiritual. The student encounters many such people radiating a small amount of this spiritual clarity. From these experiences, he infers the existence of a
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305:, the bird king. Thirty birds reach the mountain of Simurgh and there they find through contemplation that they themselves are the Simurgh. (
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background. He becomes involved in a sectarian riot in which he impulsively kills a Hindu, after which he becomes an outcast among the
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for some of the plot of the fake book. The supposed publisher of the fictitious book described in the story was an actual publisher,
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lawyer, and published in 1934, the second edition is described by the narrator as inferior to the first edition, published in 1932.
993:
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Written in 1935, "The
Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" was first published as an essay in Borges's 1936 philosophical essay collection
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Borges's use of an allegory to shed light on a detective story shows his use of religious doctrines for aesthetic value.
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The
Conversation with the Man Called Al-Mu'tasim: A Game of Shifting Mirrors
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of the main character of the fictitious book as he goes on his pilgrimage.
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The narrator then summarizes the plot of the novel. The book is a
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Rice, Thomas J. "Subtle
Reflections of/upon Joyce in/by Borges".
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248:
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Borges's mixing of the fictional and the real, which
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A long footnote at the end of the review summarises
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460:Jorge Luis Borges: A Study of the Short Fiction
322:pantheistic idea that anything is all things."
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215:, as was the supposed writer of the preface,
633:An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain
452:
450:
203:Borges described his story as "both a hoax
147:title: "El acercamiento a Almotásim") is a
1087:Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge
1047:Adrogue, con ilustraciones de Norah Borges
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231:, the second edition of an earlier work,
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994:The Analytical Language of John Wilkins
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429:. Columbia University Press. pp.
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192:El jardĂn de senderos que se bifurcan
802:The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths
753:Story of the Warrior and the Captive
612:Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote
384:Critical Essays on Jorge Luis Borges
207:a pseudo-essay." He borrowed from
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1124:Short stories by Jorge Luis Borges
14:
1140:
668:Theme of the Traitor and the Hero
235:. Written by Mir Bahadur Ali, an
200:when that was published in 1944.
194:), which became a subsection of
16:Short story by Jorge Luis Borges
1076:Jorge Guillermo Borges (father)
463:. G.K. Hall & Co. pp.
387:. G. K. Hall & Co. p.
222:
1071:Leonor Acevedo Suarez (mother)
278:, whom he calls Al-Mu'tasim. (
1:
559:A Universal History of Infamy
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165:
22:"The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim"
872:The Gospel According to Mark
493:Journal of Modern Literature
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7:
647:The Garden of Forking Paths
605:The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim
294:The Conference of the Birds
233:The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim
188:The Garden of Forking Paths
141:The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim
42:El acercamiento a Almotásim
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598:Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
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457:Lindstrom, Naomi (1990).
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1033:Book of Imaginary Beings
1019:Historia de la eternidad
1001:A New Refutation of Time
816:The Man on the Threshold
576:On Exactitude in Science
423:Alazraki, Jaime (1971).
381:Alazraki, Jaime (1987).
312:
247:to the quest of finding
184:Historia de la eternidad
99:Historia de la eternidad
1026:Borges on MartĂn Fierro
703:The Sect of the Phoenix
689:Three Versions of Judas
309:means "thirty birds".)
1103:Borges and mathematics
795:The Writing of the God
626:The Lottery in Babylon
349:Psychedelic rock band
175:
1081:Norah Borges (sister)
915:There Are More Things
767:The House of Asterion
675:Death and the Compass
661:The Form of the Sword
258:about a freethinking
180:A History of Eternity
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958:Shakespeare's Memory
941:Shakespeare's Memory
640:The Library of Babel
130:Published in English
856:Dr. Brodie's Report
654:Funes the Memorious
154:written in 1935 by
38:Original title
1129:1936 short stories
682:The Secret Miracle
619:The Circular Ruins
569:Man on Pink Corner
299:Farid ud-Din Attar
176:
1111:
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987:The Total Library
967:
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781:Averroes's Search
774:Deutsches Requiem
530:Jorge Luis Borges
426:Jorge Luis Borges
217:Dorothy L. Sayers
160:Jorge Luis Borges
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32:Jorge Luis Borges
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1093:H. Bustos Domecq
929:The Book of Sand
884:The Book of Sand
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732:The Immortal
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143:" (original
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94:Published in
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1011:Other works
951:Blue Tigers
835:Dreamtigers
550:collections
548:short story
280:Al-Mu'tasim
276:perfect man
263:law student
152:short story
89:Publication
83:short story
28:Short story
1118:Categories
1098:Pedro Mata
1040:Labyrinths
357:References
351:Blaak Heat
297:(1177) by
166:Background
114:Media type
48:Translator
980:Yo, JudĂo
894:The Other
823:The Aleph
788:The Zahir
760:Emma Zunz
722:The Aleph
710:The South
588:Ficciones
465:18–20, 22
336:Reception
285:Hindustan
197:Ficciones
156:Argentine
106:Ficciones
60:Argentina
1054:El Golem
922:The Disk
809:The Wait
546:Original
307:Si murgh
245:allegory
76:Genre(s)
66:Language
1064:Related
901:Ulrikke
696:The End
486:Sources
303:Simurgh
267:Islamic
209:Kipling
158:writer
149:fantasy
145:Spanish
70:Spanish
56:Country
972:Essays
471:
437:
395:
345:Legacy
260:Bombay
237:Indian
109:(1944)
102:(1936)
431:22–23
313:Style
117:Print
469:ISBN
435:ISBN
393:ISBN
133:1962
125:1936
265:of
249:God
205:and
30:by
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