Dear readers, I am still in the middle of a solid two months of non-stop travel. As a result, I am again unable to write an original Substack piece this week, so instead I thought I would share with you a very rare and special document that I have had in my possession for some time now.
This is indeed a treat! Thank you for writing and sharing this, fun, beautiful, witty, humorous, and so very human story and intriguing thought experiment. Your stories are so richly pebbled with little gems barely winking out of the text that it’s a joy strolling through them like in a strange 17th century physic garden, with eyes wide open for silent treasures. I really love your footnotes this time. I’ve been missing them in my current readings (Pierre Bayle + the second 1.000 pages of J. Israel), so it was great you scrolled down to read them within the text. Happy 2023 to you, and hope the experiment you conducted on the west coast gave you fruitful results!
I love this! I know one thing for sure: it will be in humanity’s interest to reassemble whatever twisted brilliant wires make up your brain on that sad day you leave us. Also, this reminded me, I can’t find my traveling spoon anywhere.
As I was googling the many many things this story inspired me to background check and follow up on, I came across this article on the transmission and evolution of the Francine Doll legend. Very interesting story in itself. :)
This is the most Borgesian collection of writing I've found outside Borges. Bless you for this wonderful substack.
What else is there to say? Another great addition to the JEHS universe. Thank you.
I am beginning to believe that the spirit that animated the person we know as Borges and the person we know as Eco has now discovered a third host....
A tip of the hat to you Mr. Smith. I always enjoy your tales of mystery
and imagination.
This is wonderful in so many ways.
Ron Rosenbaum
elfenbein!
This is indeed a treat! Thank you for writing and sharing this, fun, beautiful, witty, humorous, and so very human story and intriguing thought experiment. Your stories are so richly pebbled with little gems barely winking out of the text that it’s a joy strolling through them like in a strange 17th century physic garden, with eyes wide open for silent treasures. I really love your footnotes this time. I’ve been missing them in my current readings (Pierre Bayle + the second 1.000 pages of J. Israel), so it was great you scrolled down to read them within the text. Happy 2023 to you, and hope the experiment you conducted on the west coast gave you fruitful results!
I love this! I know one thing for sure: it will be in humanity’s interest to reassemble whatever twisted brilliant wires make up your brain on that sad day you leave us. Also, this reminded me, I can’t find my traveling spoon anywhere.
As I was googling the many many things this story inspired me to background check and follow up on, I came across this article on the transmission and evolution of the Francine Doll legend. Very interesting story in itself. :)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-intellectual-history/article/mechanical-daughter-of-rene-descartes-the-origin-and-history-of-an-intellectual-fable/14518C7D691F1B35B7504418B935D8A1#
Now off to searching for the backstory of the manuscript found in a bog...