Empire of Dreams

by Giannina Braschi, Tess O`Dwyer (Translator)

Straddling the line between fiction and poetry, Empire of Dreams speaks of Puerto Rican poet Giannina Braschi's love affair with New York City―her imagined social, political, erotic, and linguistic relationships to the place that has acted as a magnet to Puerto Ricans for so many years.

The work deals with issues of performance, gender ambiguity, and marginality. It is concerned with the boundaries of language and the possibilities of cross-dressing poetry as commercials, diary, tabloids, gossip, confessions, videos, autobiography, musicals, and manifesto. Characters turn into other characters. Clowns, buffoons, shepherds, lead soldiers, magicians, madmen, witches, fortune-tellers, and artists perform their fantasies in the city streets. An antinovel within the book satirizes the writer's 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.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Literature, Spanish Literature, Hispanic

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Giannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican writer. She is credited with writing the first Spanglish novel YO-YO BOING! (1998), the postmodern poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams (Yale, 1994), and the explosive new work of philosophical fiction United States of Banana, (Amazon Crossing, 2011), which chronicles the Latin American immigrant's experiences in the United States.

"For decades, Dominican and Puerto Rican authors have carried out a linguistic revolution," noted The Boston Globe, and "Giannina Braschi, especially in her novel YO-YO BOING!, testify to it."

Her work has been described as a "synergetic fusion that marks in a determinant fashion the lived experiences of U. S. Hispanics."Written in three languages, English, Spanglish, and Spanish, Braschi's work captures the cultural experience of nearly 50 million Hispanic Americans and also seeks to explore the three political options of Puerto Rico: Nation, Colony, or Statehood.

On the subject of the Island's lack of sovereignty, Braschi stated, "Liberty is not an option (to be voted upon)—it is a human right."

Reviews

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book was not what I thought it was going to be, I found myself being drawn in through the dreamlike quality of the prose. Similar to the works of Gilberto Sorrentino or, the pieces create a dreamscape effect, visible to the reader only after viewing it as a whole. impressionistic in style and execution, the total picture of a love affair between man and city has to be taken in small doses to be fully appreciated.

[nethescurial · Rating 5 out of 5]

An expansive poetic sandbox about the inherent creative principle within everyone and everything that can't be taken away and is as fundamental to being alive as waves are to the ocean. Wasn't jiving with it quite as hard as United States of Banana but by the end it completely sold me over, Braschi is incredibly personable and charming even when diving completely into her own personal self and her idiosyncrasies which aren't going to be super palatable to most. No solid narrative here, just linguistic ecstasy and a volcanic adoration for life and the clamor of its endlessly changing forms, places, people. Better felt and experienced than written about, like all great art.

[TereG · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is for diehard fans of Borges, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Neruda, Vallejo, and other stylized dreamers of lyric and dramatic poetry including TS. Eliot, Paz, Pound, Charles Simic and Alejandra Pizarnik. Ethereal, dreamy, cozy, funny, erudite and bizarre. Braschi writes "big books" about "big ideas" but fills them with little simple things like chestnuts, anise seed, animalitos. She writes of fire, astroids, stars, and moons, about life in the circus with clowns and buffoons, about shepherds and pastoral poetry, about New York City, and about writing itself. In a word, gorgeous.

[Diana Rosengard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with this book almost twenty years ago and I still love it today.

[Alex Pelling · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I’m not interested in gods, Mr Banker, I’m interested in human beings. And yet, the gods envy my death. Gods can’t create as I do because they’re immortal and incapable of dying in order to be reborn. That’s why they can’t create different things. They’re condemned to live the dream of the imperishable.”

Giannina the GOAT never fails to impress and/or elude me. Love it.

[Peter]

unsure how I feel about this. it’s a time capsule into a different era of American fiction, when experimental form was more accepted. sprawling, it shoots out in all directions while the ending novella grasps on the fragmentary nature of identity.

[Devlin Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not for everyone; unless you enjoy experimental, existentialist prose. I enjoyed reading this work but, I did take it for what it was.

Some may find it much like a case of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.

Since this book is an example of contradictions…my review will be as well. My right brain enjoyed the lyrical prose and defined imagery. My left brain thought this book was a case of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and its content better written. Interesting juxtaposition isn’t it?

Devlin

[Donald Quist · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't help but feel that something was lost in translation. There are some stand out moments of poetic prose but overall the narrative was too hard to follow.

[Kris Fernandez-Everett]

just couldn't get into it... didn't feel the rhythms -- really just didn't make a personal connection to me... abandoned about halfway through...

[Jessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely stylized book. It's not my thing. It's beautiful but I couldn't tell you what I was really reading but the prose was beautiful. Not my taste.

[Shyann Marquez · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of this book seems like pointless rambling that makes no sense but it low-key hits in some parts