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English
Vintage Books
26 February 2019
A towering achievement from a foundational author of modern Latin American literature- through the historical figure of Paraguay's nineteenth-century ""Supreme Dictator for Life,"" Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, I the Supreme brilliantly explores the relationships between language, politics, oppression, and freedom.

I the Supremeimagines a dialogue between the nineteenth-century Paraguayan dictator known as Dr. Francia and Policarpo Patino, his secretary and only companion. The opening pages present a sign that they had found nailed to the wall of a cathedral, purportedly written by Dr. Francia himself and ordering the execution of all of his servants upon his death. This sign is quickly revealed to be a forgery, which takes leader and secretary into a larger discussion about the nature of truth- ""In the light of what Your Eminence says, even the truth appears to be a lie.""

Their conversation broadens into an epic journey of the mind, stretching across the colonial history of their nation, filled with surrealist imagery, labyrinthine turns, and footnotes supplied by a mysterious ""compiler."" A towering achievement from a foundational author of modern Latin American literature,I the Supremeis a darkly comic, deeply moving meditation on power and its abuse-and on the role of language in making and unmaking whole worlds.
By:  
Imprint:   Vintage Books
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 203mm,  Width: 132mm, 
Weight:   368g
ISBN:   9780525564690
ISBN 10:   0525564691
Pages:   448
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Augusto Roa Bastos was born in 1917 and is widely considered to be one of Paraguay's greatest novelists. Best known for his novels I the Supreme and Son of Man, he authored many works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and Spain's Cervantes Prize, Roa Bastos spent much of his life outside Paraguay, both as a foreign correspondent and in exile for his opposition to the ruling governments of his country. He died in 2005.

Reviews for I the Supreme

A richly textured, brilliant book. . . . One of the milestones of the Latin American novel. -Carlos Fuentes, The New York Times Book Review A work of graceful, voluminous genius, an Everest of fiction. . . . Augusto Roa Bastos is himself a supreme find, maybe the most complex and brilliant Latin American novelist of all. -The Washington Post A text of a verbal density that recalls the later James Joyce. . . . Roa Bastos's novel has challenged and fascinated thousands of readers around the world. -Los Angeles Times The most magnificent work, most magnificently translated, to come from Spanish into English in almost a quarter of a century. -Commonweal These passages reverberate with a fierce surrealism-peopled with dwarves, women warriors and clairvoyant animals; studded with Borgesian images. . . A prodigious meditation not only on history and power, but also on the nature of language itself. -The New York Times An elaborate and erudite opus saturated in the verbal bravura of classic modernism. -John Updike, The New Yorker [I the Supreme's] breadth of vision and ambition make it important in any language. -The New Statesman The novel's true achievement is one of tone and voice. The language is a triumph almost as much for the translator as for the author: ebulliently resourceful, brilliant in its vitriol and vituperation, rabelaisian in its extravagance. -Publishers Weekly


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