Editing The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim (section)

==Background==
[[File:Jorge Luis Borges.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Borges in 1976]]
Written in 1935, "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" was first published as an essay in Borges's 1936 philosophical essay collection ''A History of Eternity'' (''Historia de la eternidad''). It was labeled a short story when it was reprinted in 1942 in Borges's first short fiction collection, ''The Garden of Forking Paths'' (''El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan''), which became a subsection of ''[[Ficciones]]'' when that was published in 1944.<ref name = Borges/>

Borges described his story as "both a hoax ''and'' a pseudo-essay."<ref name = Borges/>  He borrowed from [[Kipling]] for some of the plot of the fake book.<ref name = Borges/> The supposed publisher of the fictitious book described in the story was an actual publisher, [[Victor Gollancz]], as was the supposed writer of the preface, [[Dorothy L. Sayers]].<ref name = Borges/>