Borges, Jorge Luis. “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Terius.” Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Translated. New York: New Directions, 1964.
With Uqbar being this elusive place I came to think of it as a Brigadoon of sorts. Borges opens the short story with this line, “I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopaedia” (p3). But, the 11th volume of the encyclopaedia is quite the mystery. Tlon is a nonexistent country and Orbis Tertius is a planet with an unknown history. Does it really exist? The first person narrative struggles to learn more about this unusual place and has come to the conclusion it is a psychologically governed land that consists of a secret society comprised of arts and intellectuals.
Reason read: Borges was born in the month of August. Read in his honor.
Book trivia…I mean short story trivia: This is only 16 pages long. a very quick read (although I read it several times as there is a lot going on).
Author fact: Borges’s full name was Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges. Awesome name.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Travel to Imaginary Places” (p 236).
~*LunaSea*~ 