This short story is made up of a statement written by a former professor, Dr. Yu Tsun, who has been working for the German army as a spy. In this statement, Yu Tsun describes his experience of being pursued by a British officer and finding a way to communicate vital info to his German colleagues before he is caught.
From a narrative perspective, things get extra interesting when Yu Tsun is introduced to a maze-like book that was written by one of his ancestors… and that gets him thinking about the nature of time and fate.
The story starts off by letting us readers know that what we're about to read is a statement written by Yu Tsun—in other words, we're reading a story within a story. Why might Borges have chosen this angle, and how does it affect our reading?
What is the relationship between time and literature, as presented in this story? Do they have a similar structure?