Just before he died, [Jorge Luis] Borges remarked to a French poet friend of ours (who hadn't heard of Segalen): »Do not live another month before you have read the entire œuvre.« Then he started to laugh: »You can read Segalen in less than a month, but it might take you the rest of your life to understand him.«

Maria Zinfert, Über eine Poetik der Inversion. Die Romane von Victor Segalen, Iudicium Verlag, München 2003, ISBN 3-89129-118-3 (Dissertation)