The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim

 

I can be dense at times. It was in 1992 when I searched back and forth the central catalog of the British Library for The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim. Jorge Luis Borges had “reviewed” the book in one of his essays. Borges is arguably the most lucid and interesting essayist of recent times. What I found slightly odd was seeing it printed together with Borges’ short stories.

The first story by Borges I ever read was The Zahir. I was hooked. What are those objects taking possession of you the moment you catch a glimpse at them? Is it only one object that through the centuries has manifested itself in numerous reincarnations of Moses’ burning bush? Or is it a mere figment, a chimera in a mad archivist's mind who is feeding his paranoia by ransacking the libraries for supporting evidence? In this instance the Zahir has metamorphosed into a coin, a mere copper, but nevertheless the focus of a man’s neurotic obsession.

Then I read Borges’ review of The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim and I took the buss to the British Library.

Nabokov has criticized Borges’ art for being "all porch and no house behind." The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim is the literary joke of a snobbish and slightly Daliesque literati from the street-cafes in Buenos Aires. Instead of actually writing a so-so novel he wrote a mouthwatering review, promising us a much better book than he would ever have been able to produce. I guess, Borges is the opposite of Tolstoy; the two temperaments representing a fundamental polarity in the narrative universe. Tolstoy appeals to the whole spectrum of sensuality and emotions, he is as omniscient as God himself, counting every hair on your head, whereas Borges prefers to cast little spotlights on carefully chosen events and moments, much like a mischievous boy who teases us from behind the bushes, reflecting sunlight with a little pocket mirror.

© – 1/19/2009 – by michael sympson, 350 words, all rights reserved