Montano's Malady as a reader's guide, part 1

In picking Montano's Malady back up, i've found it more necessary than usual to have an open notebook at hand while i'm reading. I'm too ignorant to catch most of the references, and have to look them up online when i take breaks.

One of the unfamiliar authors mentioned is Alan Pauls, who wrote something called The Borges Factor. I suspected the author and the work were fictional, but they are not. It turns out that he's an Argentine writer and has had his fourth novel translated to English this year, The Past. I've read three reviews so far, one in the Independent, one in the Guardian, and one in the Sunday Herald. Although the essay on Sick Art woven into the narrative seems intriguing, the actual plot of the novel doesn't attract me.