Verissimo, Luis Fernando: Borges and the Eternal Orangutans

< New Directions Books © 2000, 135 pages [amazon]

Luis Fernando Verissimo's Borges and the Eternal Orangutans takes the form of a novella addressed to the author Jorge Luis Borges. In it, the narrator/author, a certain Vogelstein, recounts for Borges the story of his experiences in Buenos Aires at a conference of Edgar Allan Poe specialists, an event that had ended prematurely because of the murder of one of the scholars in attendance. Vogelstein had been the one to find Joachim Rotkopf, a spiteful, "eminently knifeable  man," stabbed to death in his room. Borges is aware already of much of Vogelstein's story, as he and the narrator discussed the locked room mystery of Rotkopf's death--and the arcane clues the victim left behind pointing to the identity of his killer--immediately after the event. They had attempted to solve the crime by purely intellectual means in a series of conversations that ranged from Edgar Allan Poe's oeuvre to the mystical power of letters to the literary monkeys of this book's title.

Verissimo's supremely clever little mystery will be appreciated by Borges and Poe aficionados--familiarity with both authors would be a plus--and to readers who like their fiction thoughtful and their expectations upended.Verissimo's supremely clever little mystery will be appreciated by Borges and Poe aficionados--familiarity with both authors would be a plus--and to readers who like their fiction thoughtful and their expectations upended. Kudos to anyone who can figure out whodunit before the book's final chapter.

Tags: book reviews, books, Jorge Luis Borges, locked room mysteries, Luis Fernando Verissimo, typing monkeys