In Republic, Plato describes the state of the majority of people's lived experience. Chained to the spot, humanity looks at shadows of artifacts cast by the light of a fire. It is only when they turn around that they realize they have been living a fantasy that is twice removed from the authentic universe. For behind them, are the artifacts themselves and beyond the cave, the Forms of which the artifacts are copies. Finally, they observe the sun and behold the Form of the Good, the all powerful organizing force that is the highest achievable state of reality. Unlike Plato, however, Borges’ “Theme of the traitor and the hero” and Cortazar’s “Continuity of parks”, calls the existence of this binary into question; the world of Forms is collapsed into that of its imitations. The result is two stories in which different realities seem to interpenetrate each other, defamiliarizing the reader's sense of truth. The world of fact and the world of fiction become one. Both are works of metafiction as they’re “self reflexive, self-conscious and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality; and also explore the possible fictionality of the world and its (Hi)story outside the litera...