In a hotel room late at night, Borges encounters a much older version of himself. A provocative, ingenious tale of identity, time, dream and the paradox of the one and the many. Here is a list of my ten incentives to read this literary mind-blower. Also included is the entire Borges short story with my very brief rough notes in the comments section below. Link to this short tale online: http://www.akirarabelais.com/vi/o/thelibraryofbabel/borges/1983.html

One: Do you take your familiar world of streets, buildings, work, home, family, friends and neighbors as a firm foundation to define who you are? August 25, 1983 will have you question any such stable underpinning as a method of establishing identity.

Two: You will be given a chance to see what it might be like to come face-to-face with another older you, an older you who could tell you what the future holds for you, in as much detail as you would like.

Three: What is it about the nature of dreams? Like a series of very large spider webs, this Borges tale spins and weaves a web of questions around how and when a dream begins and a dream ends.

Four: How steady or consistent is time? Do you experience the flow of time as an unbroken series of discrete, distinct moments registered on a clock or as elastic, pliable mind-created silly putty; or perhaps one or the other or both, depending on your mood and alertness?

Five: Can we really interact with another person, or are other people forever filtered through the alembic of our own ideas, predilections, dreams, projections and illusions?

Six: How does what we envision as the future inform our own lives? If we knew ahead of time how successful we would be in reaching our personal or creative goals, would such knowledge alter what we do?

Seven: Are we really individual selves with me over here and you over there? Or, perhaps, is there but one self, one identity, one being extending out in space, taking on multiple forms that are ultimately an illusion?

Eight: I have a good idea what I would ask a much older version of myself, an older Glenn Russell on the eve of his death. Could you likewise come up with a list of questions?

Nine: How much of your life tends to be a repetition of past experiences and ways of doing things? What is a fresh human experience, anyhow?

Ten: How comfortable are you with making physical contact with other people? In this tale, a younger Borges recoils from the outstretched hand of older Borges. Does this question speak to how comfortable you are with your own body?

If you think I'm entirely serious asking any of these questions, it's time to read August 25, 1983.
( )

In a hotel room late at night, Borges encounters a much older version of himself. A provocative, ingenious tale of identity, time, dream and the paradox of the one and the many. Here is a list of my ten incentives to read this literary mind-blower. Also included is the entire Borges short story with my very brief rough notes in the comments section below. Link to this short tale online: http://www.akirarabelais.com/vi/o/thelibraryofbabel/borges/1983.html

One: Do you take your familiar world of streets, buildings, work, home, family, friends and neighbors as a firm foundation to define who you are? August 25, 1983 will have you question any such stable underpinning as a method of establishing identity.

Two: You will be given a chance to see what it might be like to come face-to-face with another older you, an older you who could tell you what the future holds for you, in as much detail as you would like.

Three: What is it about the nature of dreams? Like a series of very large spider webs, this Borges tale spins and weaves a web of questions around how and when a dream begins and a dream ends.

Four: How steady or consistent is time? Do you experience the flow of time as an unbroken series of discrete, distinct moments registered on a clock or as elastic, pliable mind-created silly putty; or perhaps one or the other or both, depending on your mood and alertness?

Five: Can we really interact with another person, or are other people forever filtered through the alembic of our own ideas, predilections, dreams, projections and illusions?

Six: How does what we envision as the future inform our own lives? If we knew ahead of time how successful we would be in reaching our personal or creative goals, would such knowledge alter what we do?

Seven: Are we really individual selves with me over here and you over there? Or, perhaps, is there but one self, one identity, one being extending out in space, taking on multiple forms that are ultimately an illusion?

Eight: I have a good idea what I would ask a much older version of myself, an older Glenn Russell on the eve of his death. Could you likewise come up with a list of questions?

Nine: How much of your life tends to be a repetition of past experiences and ways of doing things? What is a fresh human experience, anyhow?

Ten: How comfortable are you with making physical contact with other people? In this tale, a younger Borges recoils from the outstretched hand of older Borges. Does this question speak to how comfortable you are with your own body?

If you think I'm entirely serious asking any of these questions, it's time to read August 25, 1983.
( )