“A classic of Latin American Postmodern Literature.”
NBC Latino on the epic poem Empire of Dreams
Contemporary Epic Poem Empire of Dreams
Praise for the epic poem
“Empire of Dreams is a masterpiece, brilliantly translated. Braschi writes as an accomplished cosmopolitan heiress to the traditions of Lorca, Neruda, Mistral, and Márquez.”
Alicia Ostriker (Chancellor, Academy of American Poets)
“Braschi is a Spanish Arthur Rimbaud, reinventing surrealism, creating a maze of characters—clowns, shepherds, magicians, madmen, witches and artists who perform their fantasies in the city streets. In substantial ways, Braschi is the brightest new voice in her generation writing in the Spanish language. Empire of Dreams has been called a modern classic.”
Willis Barnstone and Tony Barnstone (Literatures of Asia, Africa, and Latin America: From Antiquity to Present)
“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 could be considered music. She imbues her text with jollity and a brilliant energy that stretches its audience from lovers of modernism to seekers of a broadened artistry of language.”
Carolyn Kuebler (Review of Contemporary Fiction)
“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.”
Dennis Nurkse (Poet Laureate Brooklyn)
“The three parts of this collection—Assault on Time, Profane Comedy, and The Intimate Diary of Solitude—allude in different ways to the play of language, life as a grand theater, and the solitude of big cities…As with any empire, there are invasions, conquests, and colonization of territories in Empire of Dreams.”
Laura Loustau (Chapman University)
“This striking collection of brief, evocative prose pieces describes moments of experience and their contingencies…at times with humorous gusto. As translated by O’Dwyer, her rhythmic, energetic prose is challenging yet accessible.”
(Publishers Weekly)
“Braschi invites us into a world in which objects, places, and elements are animated, a world in which the profane comedy of literature is staged in an entirely new way. Empire of Dreams is an absolute joy-ride!”
Jean Franco (Columbia University)
“A surge of deep emotion runs through anyone who listens to or reads Giannina Braschi because she writes the most compelling work – the dramatic, philosophical, humorous and always unpredictable in its experimental form. Braschi enlighten us with her passionate energy.”
Pia Tafdrup (Danish poet) on Empire of Dreams
“The Big Apple seems to be the central thematic axis. However, this is a bohemian space with allusions to the Quartier Latin, the barrios chinos of Barcelona and Seville, the Borgesian labyrinths of Buenos Aires, San Juan’s colonial architecture, and loci from literatures and societies of the past and present … In a pastiche of virtual reality, this rendition of New York is a poetic world invaded by parodies of bucolic voices from the Spanish literary past.”
María Mercedes Carrión (Emory University)
“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 didn’t know you have always experienced. Enlarging the mind of the future.”
Ann Jäderlund (Swedish poet and playwright)
“Empire of Dreams is a modern classic, informed with all of the major concerns of our contemporary culture.”
Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé (Fordham University)
