Ficciones is perhaps the single most mysterious and extraordinary collection of short stories written in the twentieth century. Influenced by writers as disparate as Lewis Carroll, Stevenson and Cervantes, Borges is nevertheless a complete original who can turn dry logical puzzles into enchanting fables. The pieces in this volume represent his most accomplished work.

About the Author

Jorge Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires in 1899 and was educated in Europe. One of the most widely acclaimed writers of our time, he published many collections of poems, essays and short stories before his death in Geneva in 1986. He was director of the Argentine National Library from 1955 until 1973. Mario Vargas Llosa, in a tribute to Borges, has written: 'His is a world of clear, pure, and at the same time unusual ideas expressed in words of great directness and restraint. He was a superb storyteller. One reads most of Borges' tales with the hypnotic interest usually reserved for reading detective fiction...'