Returning to this after finishing "on the way to a small angry planet". This one is not an easy read but it's almost intriguing in that I don't know exactly what it's up to. Trying to put forward some philosophical ideas for sure, but in such a layered way. A fictional tale of a society as a famous figure, with lots of asides about "of course you already know" or "you may be anticipating" . Does this help the point somehow? It's fun. I wonder what accounts are actually like that - gospels related to Jesus I guess a little bit. Also feels very Borges - I guess they were publishing around the same time. It's all in the service of worldbuilding I suppose. It's really a worldbuilding book. Where that world is an argument - having to do with World War 2 I think? I'll read more about the context when I finish, another thing to kind of ambiently puzzle about as I read for now.