By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote’ is a short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story, narrated as a non-fiction account by the fictional Menard’s equally fictional friend, sees the title character attempting to write Miguel de Cervantes’ seventeenth-century novel Don Quixote. The story is witty, funny, and absurdist – even postmodern – and raises some intriguing questions about literature and readership.