In the afterword of this work, written expressly for the English edition, Borges comments that this collection gathers the only stories he had written since 1953. He adds that three of the eleven narratives were taken from life, and that in two others he tried to be conventional by building the tale around a character or situation rather than around a plot. If the author is to be taken at his word, most of the stories in this book are his most straightforward, and their style realistic. They are set some distance in the past, around the turn of the century, in Argentina or other South American locales that are fairly recognizable. Some of the tales deal with issues of universal concern. In "The Gospel According to Mark" and in the title story, "Dr.

Brodie's Report," the impact of religion is noted. The consequences of jealousy and...