[Though] incredibly recondite in learning, and familiar with many ancient and mainly forgotten authors and speculations, [Borges] treats scholarship, like art and life, as a game. Entirely fictitious sources mingle with real ones, in texts and footnotes, some of the latter ascribed to 'editors' who are in fact the author himself. Continuing preoccupation with the dubious reality of art, of the cosmos, of himself, is one ingredient of the lucid and economical scepticism pervading his work. In one place, metaphysics is described as a branch of fantasy—yet Borges's quest is serious, his tone more tragic and stoic than flamboyant, and the various images which vividly emerge, from maze after maze, have a vividness which belong to serious, and permanent, art. (p. 6)

Borges's critical intellect, which insists on treating scepticism partly as play, is the balancing creative force, delighting in order. We are bound to conclude I think...