The Pataphysics of Borges

From my review (HERE) of the VanderMeers' massive THE BIG BOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION.

TLÖN, UQBAR, ORBIS TERTIUS by Jorge Luis Borges
Translated by Andrew Hurley

"Every mental state is irreducible: the simple act of giving it a name -- i.e., of classifying it -- introduces a distortion, a 'slant' or 'bias'."

This is a work of apparently dense speculative philosophical texture, with real famous names rubbing shoulders with neologisms and fictions and unknowns. I have always considered it to be the apotheosis of retrocausal Nemonymity as well as, now, the hawling or dreamcatching labyrinths of this Jungian or preternatural site where you read this review. For the rest, it is mere Pataphysics. Or Sir Thomas Browne coupled with Berkeley.


"Books are rarely signed, nor does the concept of plagiarism exist: it has been decided that all books are the work  of a single author who is timeless and anonymous."

Paradoxically, despite such texture, this work has a text that, when dug up, proves to be a shallow grave, and I positively wreaked more 'synchronised shards of random truth and fiction' from earlier, arguably deeper, otherwise adventurous or wonder-filled yarns in this book. But...

"A book that does not contain its counter-book is considered incomplete."

So be it. Meanwhile, we already have had the cone zeroes and the over-heavy specific gravities in this book.

"Those small, incredibly heavy cones..."