istic vision of several decades past hasnbecome today’s reality), but an averagenreader has no difficulty recognizingnin Gorky Park the ring of truth, authenticity,nreality. Even the ideologicallynindifferent can be converted when spiritnbecomes flesh. In Notebooks of a Dilettante,nLeopold Tyrmand wrote:nIf I have to explain what communismnis to an average American, I deliberatelynuse a technical metaphor to appealnto their pragmatic, engineerlikenimagination. ‘Communism,’ I say, ‘isnlike a damaged or broken engine ornplumbing installation. No one knowsnhow to repair it. But it runs and peoplenare obliged to use it.’n’Oh!’ sighs the American, ‘it must benhell!’nIn developing the simile, Gorky Parknhas succeeded better than any othernfictional popularization of the evils ofnthe U.S.S.R. When the banal intricaciesnof its plot fade from memory, whatnremains is an invaluable look into anuniverse best accessible through thenunpretentious wisdom of a detectivenstorv.nIn 1942, under the pseudonym ofnH. Bustos Domecq, Borges collaboratednwith Adolfo Bioy Casares to produce anwork of detective fiction. As a seriousnwriter of profound philosophical andnspiritual insight, Borges is reminiscentnof Chesterton, who also delved into thendetective genre in his Father Brownnstories. And no doubt the Chestertonnparallel was deliberate, in Borges’snmind, since among the many charactersnwho populate these six stories appearsnone Father Brown. The latter, in thenguise of a criminal, hints at the playfulnessnof Borges’s imagination. Thenname of the detective himself, of course,nreinforces the notion of parody. In fact,nit would be altogether easy to dismissnthe book as an instance of “the master”nmerely having a good time. Borges him­n28inChronicles of Culturenself wrote, years later:nMax Carrados had attempted a blindndetective; Bioy and I went one stepnfurther and confined our detective tona jail cell. The book was at the samentime a satire of the Argentines. Fornmany years, the dual identity of BustosnDomecq was never revealed.nWhen it finally was, people thoughtnthat Bustos was a joke, his writingncould hardly be taken seriously.nThese stories are not a significantncontribution to detective fiction, andnDon Isidro is no rival to Holmes andnhis followers. What Borges succeedsnin doing is satirizing the Argentinengovernment and society and in brilliantlyncreating colloquial dialogue whichndiffers according to character, reflectingneach individual’s region, class, psychologynand prejudices. The corruptionnof the Argentine government is a recurrentntheme: Parodi is in jail for anmurder committed by someone elsenwho luckily (for him) had the rightngovernment connections. Borges alsonridicules Argentine snobbery, literarynpretentiousness, provincialism, anti-nSemitism and the country’s prevalentnxenophobia. The latter is counterpointednagainst the reality of Buenos Airesnas a melting pot. A society formed bynmany groups, among them Italians.nJews. Chinese, which nevertheless focusesnon its “ethnic purity” and hostilitynto these various groups can only existnplagued by self-destructive tensions.nAgainst the backdrop of what was happeningnin Europe at the time, Borges’snsatirization of these attitudes can benconstrued as poignant warning. Thenvarious racial factors which helped toncreate modern Argentina are celebratednhere; each character expresses himselfnidiomatically and idiosyncratically, thusnrendering the six detective stories anvalid social profile. The recent publicationnof this fine translation by NormannThomas di Giovanni, a long-time associatenof Borges, should interest allnaficionados of Borges’s writing. Evenna relatively minor work of one of ournmost important living writers, longnoverdue for a Nobel Prize, is significantnin presenting a rounded portraitnof a multifaceted talent.nOoth Gorky Park and Six Problemsnfor Don Isidro Parodi are formallyndetective stories. Both, however, transcendnthe genre and become trenchantnsocial commentaries, or, more simplyn—literature. DnSupply-Side and All That CutsnBruce Bartlett: Reaganomics: Supply-SidenEconomics in Action; ArlingtonnHouse Publishers; New Rochelle,nNew York.nby Harold C. GordonnIn 1977 supply-side economics didnnot exist. By 1981, it was the basis fornthe greatest single tax cut in our nation’snhistory. In a breathtakingly shortnperiod of time, a daring idea precipitatednan economic and political revolution.nMr. Gordon is a legislative assistant tonSenator John East of North Carolina.nnnFor years it had been the Republicansnwho fretted about budget deficits whilenthe Democrats shrugged off the wholennational debt with the breezy rejoinder,n”We owe it to ourselves.” Then, almostnovernight, it was the Republicans whonwere saying that deficits didn’t matter,nthe important thing was cutting taxes,nwhile the Democrats were donning thenhair shirt of fiscal restraint. How didnit all happen?nFor those who came in late, BrucenBartlett’s supply-side primer is requirednreading. In Reaganomics, the youngncongressional staffer (who as an aide tonCongressman Jack Kemp played a majorn