Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

A lot of the stories seem to relate to the Ancient World, or at least slightly older world. They often involve real or imaginary texts to connect the plots to another time and space. Don Quixote and Arabian Nights are mentioned, and because the reader is familiar with these works, at least in awareness of their themes, their presence greatly enriches the stories.
The stories involving imaginary texts, such as the encyclopedic article of Tlon, the Garden of Forking Paths, and The Enemies, are infinitely interesting, but not grounded in reality. While they are wonderful to read, and absolutely inspired, it was difficult for me to attach meaning, to really let myself trust the story. Because Borges distorts the boundaries between genre so effortlessly, it can leave the reader feeling incredibly uncertain of what exactly they are reading, even though the books title clearing states, Ficciones.
It is for this reason that I found The South and Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote to be my favorite stories. There is something beautiful and chaotic about Borges' writing. It is like a manic bombardment of data; some imagined, some "real." But even when his language achieves impossible heights of skill, I often found myself gritting my teeth in confusion. A sentence may seem clear, but how can I tell that I am correctly interpreting any of this information? The book reads like a mystic guide to artistic creation, like a jumbled alchemist's equation of words. In all of this, knowing that I can at least trust the reference of a book alluded to in the text is extremely helpful.
However, I also loved The Circular Ruins, which does not mention any text, as I recall. I have a background in various mythologies, so this sort of humanist creation story was fascinating for me. I found it to be, in many ways, the simplest of the short stories, in its theme and language. Its brevity and minimalism made it much more accessible for me than some of the other stories.
despite my confusion during the text, I have to say that I am truly awed by Borges' writing. If I could write that well, I would nto care if many people could not understand it.