Books like La Ciudad Ausente by Ricardo Piglia

A collection of his short stories in which Borges often uses the labyrinth as a literary device to expound his ideas on all aspects of human life and endeavor. ---------- Contains: [Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL444914W)

The New York Trilogy is an astonishing and original book: three cleverly interconnected novels that exploit the elements of standard detective fiction and achieve a new genre that is all the more gripping for its starkness. In each story the search for clues leads to remarkable coincidences in the universe as the simple act of trailing a man ultimately becomes a startling investigation of what it means to be human. Auster's book is modern fiction at its finest: bold, arresting and unputdownable.

A fugitive hides on a deserted island somewhere in Polynesia. Tourists arrive, and his fear of being discovered becomes a mixed emotion when he falls in love with one of them. He wants to tell her his feelings, but an anomalous phenomenon keeps them apart. - Wikipedia

No sooner does he get to know Ricardo Laverde than disaffected young Colombian lawyer Antonio Yammara realizes that his new friend has a secret, or rather several secrets. Antonio's fascination with the life of ex-pilot Ricardo Laverde begins by casual acquaintance in a seedy Bogotá billiard hall and grows until the day Ricardo receives a cassette tape in an unmarked envelope. Asking Antonio to find him somewhere private to play it, they go to a library. The first time he glances up from his seat in the next booth, Antonio sees tears running down Laverde's cheeks; the next, the ex-pilot has gone. Shortly afterwards, Ricardo is shot dead on a street corner in Bogotá by a guy on the back of a motorbike and Antonio is caught in the hail of bullets. Lucky to survive, and more out of love with life than ever, he starts asking questions until the questions become an obsession that leads him to Laverde's daughter. His troubled investigation leads all the way back to the early 1960s, marijuana smuggling and a time before the cocaine trade trapped a whole generation of Colombians in a living nightmare of fear and random death.

In DEATH IN VENICE, an elderly, famous, and wealthy writer named Aschenbach goes on vacation. He becomes fascinated with Tadzio, a young teenager who is staying with his family at Aschenbach's hotel. As his obsession grows, and despite warnings that a plague is threatening Venice, Aschenbach remains at the hotel hoping to make a connection with the elusive Tadzio. Mann's novel is celebrated for its subtle characterization, and its exploration of the struggles of the artist--the longing for transcendence and ideal beauty vs. the need to sacrifice for one's art.