BORGES AND THE ETERNAL ORANGTANS
by Luis Fernando Verissimo
In recognition of certain literary theories that contend that any
portion of a text -- no matter how small -- suggests the text itself in
its entirety, I did not finish Luis Fernando Verissimo's new book (a
mystery) before writing about it. I'd hate to ruin the ending with
metatext, which, let's face it, happens far too often these days.
As the title suggests, BORGES AND THE ETERNAL ORANGUTANS is a
deliberate homage to several authors and literary traditions, including
Borges, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, and the mad arab himself,
Abdul Alhazred. A murder occurs in a room locked from the inside (the
author remarks upon the delightful coincidence) in a hotel at the
annual Edgar Allan Poe convention. With several suspects and strange
literary/symbolic clues in abundance, the protagonist and Borges
himself unravel this mystery to its surprising solution, dipping
(nearly) pedantically into subjects ranging from mythology to
cryptography and, finally, the Necronomicon itself.
Intended for great fans of Borges, Doyle, Poe, etc., this book
entertains the reader with a solid background in these authors and an
appreciation of the exuberance of many modern and contemporary South
American narrators. The book is such a successful homage to its
inspirations it creates a need to justify its own existence -- why read
this when there are so many other wonderful things to read? For
someone familiar with the entire libraries of these authors, BORGES AND
THE ETERNAL ORANGUTANS is an amusing and entertaining dedication. But
if you haven't read everything the book references, I'd recommend
giving this one a miss, and doing just that.
--Kenton deAngeli