Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

Metadata

  • Media: #shortstory
    • Author: [[!Jorge Luis Borges]]
    • From: B-Ficciones
    • Status: read
    • Date: 2020-08-21
    • Tags: #fantasy #weirdfiction fictional commentaries
    • Rating: ★★★★☆
    • Idea richness: ★★★★★

Summary

Discovering a fictional country in a fictional encyclopedia that was created by a fictional secret society developing a fictional planet for the mythology of said fictional country.

Thoughts

Started out as a commentary on discovering a fictional country and quickly pivoted to notes on fictional books, exploring a fictional mythology, and uncovering evidence of a fictional secret society creating all this fiction. All the while, exploring the theme of how Fiction influences reality.

Felt the most distinct of Borges' fictional commentaries. The Approach to Al-Mu tasim, Pierre Menard Author of the Quixote, A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain, and his other stories which integrate fake books tend to focus on their authors, content, and impact. Tlon dives primarily into the contents themselves with far less commentary. More a narration of research.

Telling the story over a series of 'updates' and letters on the research gave the story an almost Found footage style which worked well to enhance the believability.

Overall, perhaps not very entertaining as a 'story' or plot but fascinating as a fount of ideas. Each page, each concept, was so rich it took time to digest. One minute you're reading mundane details about finding a book and the next the philosophy of a fictional planet where language has no nouns.

Felt like an inspiration for some of Jeff VanderMeer's short stories, exploring fictional worlds and authors.

Highlights

  • "There are famous poems composed of a single enormous word; this word is a 'poetic object' created by the poet."
  • "The fact that no one believes in the reality expressed by these nouns means, paradoxically, that there is no limit to their number." --> [[!Untruths can always be more numerous than truths]]
  • "Ever mental state is irreducible: the simple act of giving it a name--i.e., of classifying it--introduces a distortion, a 'slant' or 'bias'." --> [[!Labels are packed with preconceptions]]

Scrapbook Concepts

  • "...where their obelisks are still standing and their stone mirrors are occasionally unearthed"
  • the Night of Nights (Islamic)
  • Transparent tigers
  • Towers of blood
  • A language without nouns
  • Sect which believes only what happens every 300 nights is real
  • Tombs in the ancient bed of a river
  • Showing images influences reality and used to mold minds which molds the past. Ex: sending people out to dig for a fictional treasure which in some cases makes it real.