THE CRACKED LOOKING GLASS

Mr. Schulman makes a place for ten seers of our century, whose nether-worldly stories project jarring images onto our ""cozy landscape, with horizons tailored to save the mind's eye from strain."" The visions include H. G. Wells' ""Country of the Blind,"" the sophisticated probes of D. H. Lawrence and Kafka, Barthelme's ""Report"" and, most masterful of all, Borges' ""Garden of the Forking Paths."" Good reading on any level -- tough, but also toughening, and worth it.