"[Borges is] a central fact of Western culture."–WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD"Borges is the most important Spanish-language writer since Cervantes."–Mario Vargas Llosa"Without Borges, the modern Latin American novel simply would not exist."–Carlos Fuentes"[Borges] engages the heart as well as the intelligence."–John Barth"The economy of his prose, the tact of his imagery, the courage of his thought are there to be admired and emulated."–John Updike"These brief Ficciones . . . throb with uncanny and haunting power. A strange and formidable writer, Sr. Borges is also a magisterial stylist."–ATLANTIC MONTHLY"The stories in Ficciones are the very best of Borges . . . They mean more than they seem to mean . . . Borges' fictions are narrative at its purest."–from the Introduction by John Sturrock