The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim

"The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" (original Spanish title: "El acercamiento a Almotásim") is a fantasy short story written in 1935 by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.

In his autobiographical essay, Borges wrote about "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim", "it now seems to me to foreshadow and even to set the pattern for those tales that were somehow awaiting me, and upon which my reputation as a storyteller was to be based.

He becomes involved in a sectarian riot in which he impulsively kills a Hindu, after which he becomes an outcast among the lower classes of India.

He then begins a journey across the subcontinent (the geography of which Borges describes in detail), interacting with untouchables along the way.

"[2] Naomi Lindstrom describes the reviewer of the detective story as "a typical Borges narrator".

[3] Borges's use of an allegory to shed light on a detective story shows his use of religious doctrines for aesthetic value.

[2] In his autobiographical essay, Borges writes that when "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" was first published, the people who read it "took it at face value, and one of my friends even ordered a copy from London.

"[1] Psychedelic rock band Blaak Heat named their 2016 album, Shifting Mirrors, after the subtitle of Bahadur's fictional book mentioned in the short story.