Ficciones: Prologue Summary & Analysis

Borges gives a brief introduction to this section of the book. He says that the eighth story, “The Garden of Forking Paths,” is a mystery, while the first seven are fantasies. He also writes that he is not the first author of the story “The Library of Babel.” He goes on to say that to write long books is extravagant, and that it is better to pretend those books have already existed and write commentary on the main idea. Thus, much of Borges’s work in this book consists of notes on imaginary books.