Found: Books alluded to in "Quichotte" by Salman Rushdie

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Found: Books alluded to in "Quichotte" by Salman Rushdie

1Cecrow
Modificato: Ago 18, 2023, 7:26 am

I'm currently reading Quichotte, and Rushdie has alluded to a number of novels (or short stories?) that he describes but does not name, which I'm curious to identify:

1) An explorer stands on a mountain glacier in Iceland, watching the peak's shadow move until it points to a hole which leads to the centre of the Earth. FOUND (probably): Journey to the Center of the Earth

2) A man with a disc embedded in his forehead that glows brightly when he's sexually attracted to a woman, which is okay because everyone has one. FOUND: The Primal Urge

3) A man with a dog accidentally steps into a freak phenomenon called a chrono-synclastic infndibulum and is being stretched out forever across space and time. FOUND: The Sirens of Titan

4) A NASA controller is in touch with an alien flying saucer that contains people who look like Earthlings, he guides it to land but doesn't see it anywhere. He runs outside and accidentally steps on it because it is tiny. FOUND (probably): Pictures Don't Lie

5) A supercomputer in a Tibetan monastery will count the nine billion names of God, which is a formulae that will end the universe. When the program ends, the stars begin to wink out one by one. FOUND: The Nine Billion Names of God

2Petroglyph
Modificato: Ago 17, 2023, 10:58 pm

I can only identify the fifth story: it's "The nine billion names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke.

3amanda4242
Modificato: Ago 17, 2023, 10:01 pm

>1 Cecrow: Number three is probably The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.

ETA: Number one might be Journey to the Center of the Earth, but I'm not sure since I haven't read it.

4Cecrow
Ago 17, 2023, 10:33 pm

>3 amanda4242:, I thought it might be Verne but wondered if that was too obvious. Seems probable though, he described several others that I didn't have trouble with including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

6bnielsen
Modificato: Ago 18, 2023, 5:53 am

>2 Petroglyph: I've read that somewhere. Aldiss or Sheckley or ???

Brian W. Aldiss : The Primal Urge

7Cecrow
Ago 18, 2023, 7:26 am

Thanks everyone! I should have more confidently recognized Verne but the others are new to me.