Empire of Dreams

(Paperback)

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Giannina Braschi explores the cultural and political journey of nearly 50 million Hispanic Americans living in the United States in this explosive new work of fiction, her first written in originally in English. United States of Banana takes place at the Statue of Liberty in post-9/11 New York City, where Hamlet, Zarathustra, and Giannina are on a

Reviews

[A] striking collection of brief, evocative proseBraschis sensibility is urban, that of a New York City observer whos willing to test and re-imagine her impressions and sensations, at times with humorous gusto. Publishers Weekly An in-your-face assertion of the vitality of Latino culture in the US. New York Daily News Revelation-ary! You get the feeling that every single word is touching the inside of your own senses. Connecting them to the world. For the first time. Revealing something you didnt know you have always experienced. Enlarging the mind of the future. Ann Jderlund, award-winning Swedish poet Good poets write great poems. Great poets create a new language. Giannina Braschi is a brilliant artist who has invented a syntax that reveals how we think, suffer, and take delight in the twenty-first century. Though the tone can be playful, her work has deep roots in the subversive side of classical literature. The scale is epic. D.Nurkse, author of The Fall and The Border Kingdom Empire of Dreams is a masterpiece, brilliantly translatedBraschi writes as an accomplished cosmopolitan heiress to the traditions of Lorca, Neruda, Mistral, and Marquez. Her sheer erotic energy defies definition as well as dogma. Alicia Ostriker, author of The Book of Seventy A torrent of voice and imagination that reflect back to us the marvelous feeling of being alive. Jonathan Brent, Yale University Press The book satirizes the writers role in the modern age and calls for a revolution of poetry. New York City becomes the site of liberation for its marginal citizens, as the narrator is led through a seeming phantasmagoria of internal and external trials in order to experience the center-of political power, of meaning, of feeling, and of personal identity. Feminist Bookstore News A multipart exuberation, defying type: Assault on Time suggests Michaux in its rhythms, while The Profane Comedy reads like the love child of Walt Whitman and Gertrude Stein, and The Intimate Diary of Solitude goes the full pomo in a daisy chain of rle assumption, as if Pessoas heteronyms swapped personae. And, surprisingly, it all works, though you cant say just how. Extreme Reading Braschi writes with a strong poetic tradition behind her, and from her erudite standpoint she forges an odd mixture of poetry, prose, drama, and a little of what can be considered music. She imbues her text with jollity and brilliant energy that stretches (her) audience from lovers of modernism to a broadened artistry of language. Carolyn Kuebler, Review of Contemporary Fiction Laced with satire and eroticism with a cosmopolitan edge. The Advocate Braschi is a constantly brilliant writerher writing is the lively moment time and time again. Shes a treasure, a midnight, a sharp sun. In her work everybody lives. Michael Burkard, author of Entire Dilemma Original, exasperating, chaotic, and satisfyingall at once. El Mundo

Author Bio

A native of Puerto Rico, Giannina Braschi is an influential and versatile writer of poetry, fiction, and essays. She was a tennis champion and fashion model during her youth in San Juan, before moving to Madrid to study with the Spanish poets Carlos Busoo and Claudio Rodriguez. She lived in Paris, Rome, and London before settling in New York, where she has taught at Rutgers University, City University, and Colgate University. She holds a Ph.D. in Golden Age Spanish literature and has written on Cervantes, Garcilaso, Lorca, Machado, Vallejo, and Bcquer. Her cutting-edge work in Spanish, Spanglish, and English has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, el diario, PEN American Center, Ford Foundation, Danforth Scholarship, InterAmericas, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquea, and Reed Foundation. She currently serves as a literary judge for the PEN Book Awards. Tess ODwyer's English rendition of the Latino literary classic Empire of Dreams by Giannina Braschi won the Columbia University Translation Center Award and inaugurated the Yale Library of World Literature in Translation. With a master's degree in literature from Rutgers, she edited Review: Art and Literature of the Americas and translated the nineteenth century social realist Chilean novel Martin Rivas by Alberto Blest Gana for Oxford University Press. Tess O'Dwyer's short story about her late Korean mother, entitled Ballerina of Chestnut Mountain, won first place in the national short story competition of the Hackney Literary Awards. She is a board member of PEN American Center, Evergreen Review, and Harvard Universitys Cultural Agents Initiative. She runs her own fundraising consultancy in New York City.