The Stranger

(READING) In Jorge Luis Borges's "The Aleph," a man, Carlos Argentino Daneri, has in the basement of his home a point through which he can see the universe of everything—the shadow of a hawk passing over Lake Geneva, a lion sleeping in the South African veldt, the hair on the back of Darwin's hand. I believe this magical point, the aleph, also exists in William T. Vollmann's basement. Winner of last year's National Book Award, Vollmann, like the fictional Daneri, writes about everything under the sun. His new book is Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. (Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255. 7:30 pm, $5.) by Charles Mudede

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