One of my father’s favourite anecdotes concerned a conversation he had with Jorge Luis Borges after a lecture the writer gave in New York in the 1960s. My father was a great lover of Borges’ fiction and approached the celebrated author to express his admiration. He paid tribute to the great man, then asked if he might pose a question. Borges assented, and my father proceeded as follows. ‘It concerns certain unwritten Sherlock Holmes cases. As I’m sure you know, before recounting the tale of the Musgrave Ritual, Holmes mentions the names of several other cases. These were the Tarleton murders, the case of Vamberry the wine merchant, the adventure of the old Russian woman, the singular affair of the aluminium crutch, and the case of Ricoletti of the club-foot and his abominable wife. My question is: which of these undocumented cases would you most like to be able to read?’ Without hesitation Borges said: ‘The singular affair of the aluminium crutch.’ ‘What is it about that case which appeals to you?’ my father asked. ‘The explanation is simple,’ Borges replied. ‘I myself once invented the story of the singular affair of the aluminium crutch. I lost track of it a long time ago and have no idea if the manuscript survives. You posing your question just now has left me wondering what I wrote.’
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Simon Collings
Picture Nick Victor
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