Last week I picked up the Collected Fictions of Jorge Luis Borges, and have been reading nothing else since. The guy is amazing.

How to classify him? To compare him to authors with whom I am familiar, I would have to say that he exhibits the simplicity and humor of Evan Connell, the poetic strength of Cormac McCarthy, the precision and aloofness of Edgar Allen Poe, and the cosmic overtones of H.P. Lovecraft or the earlier works of Umberto Eco.

This is not to say he is in any way derivative of any of these writers; he very much has his own style and sensibilities, and I am thoroughly enjoying every minute I spend reading his work.

As for genre, I would call him a magical realist of the highest order. He writes of labyrinths and time and mirrors, and twists them all together until it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.

If any of you have read Borges I am interested in hearing (reading) your thoughts on the subject.