Description
'An Aztec West Wing' GUARDIAN
'A triumph' FINANCIAL TIMES
'A mischievous fantasy' TLS
'Glorious' i-D
In 1519, Conquistador Hernan Cortes and his troops ride into the floating city of Tenoxtitlan - today's Mexico City - in this hallucinatory, revelatory, colonial revenge story.
Invited to a ceremonial meal with the steely princess Atotoxtli, sister and wife of the emperor Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance into the city and its labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortes's captains, Jazmin Caldera, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed, and wonders at the risks of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire.
Moctezuma himself is at a political, spiritual and physical crossroads, relying on hallucinogens in a quest for any kind of answer from the gods. When Cortes and Moctezuma meet, two worlds, empires, languages, and possible futures collide.
You Dreamed of Empires brings to life Tenoxtitlan at its height - and reimagines its destiny.
It sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.
Translated by Natasha Wimmer
About the Author
Alvaro Enrigue was born in Mexico and lives in New York City. He is a literature professor at Hofstra University. Sudden Death - his first novel to be translated into English - was awarded the prestigious Herralde Prize in Spain, the Elena Poniatowska International Novel Award in Mexico, and the Barcelona Prize for Fiction.
Reviews
Parts of the novel play like an Aztec West Wing, taking us deep into the political manoeuvrings of the royal court but blending its particularities with 21st-century psychology. It's a rich approach that achieves a hallucinatory vividness * Guardian *
Riotously entertaining... Natasha Wimmer brilliantly brings the author's playfulness and idiomatic humour to life for an English-language readership. The result is a triumph of solemnity-busting erudition and mischievous invention that will delight and titillate * Financial Times *
A mischievous fantasy... Enrigue plunges exuberantly into the revisionist speculation that rehabilitates Indiginous awareness and agency * Times Literary Supplement *
A lively, arresting read - if 2024 brings more novels as original as this one, it will be a good year * The Times *
An eclectic work of exceptional originality * Skinny *
Enrigue's genius lies in his ability to bring readers close to its tangled knot of priests, mercenaries, warriors and princesses while adding a pinch of biting humor -- Silvia Moreno-Garcia * Los Angeles Times *
Enrigue's work is marked by an all-consuming attention to historical detail.... He is a preternaturally entertaining and erudite writer who builds alternate worlds from the minutiae. He also seems like he's having a pretty good time -- Benjamin Russell * New York Times *
Incantatory... Enrigue conjures both court intrigue and city life with grace * The New Yorker *
[S]ublime absurdities... abound in this delirious historical fantasia, which can be said to be many things: funny, ghastly, eye-opening, marvelous and frequently confounding * Wall Street Journal *
[S]hort, strange, spiky and sublime... Enrigue, who is clearly a major talent, has delivered a humane comedy of manners that is largely about paranoia (is today the day my head will be lopped off?) and the quotidian bummers of life, even if you are powerful beyond belief -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *
An alternate history of Mexican conquest, with a Tarantino-ready twist.... Deliciously gonzo.... Rendered in earthy, demotic, wryly unhistorical English by translator Natasha Wimmer... Enrigue's antic style is high-minded, richly detailed, vulgar and sophisticated all at once - reminiscent of the films of Peter Greenaway or Derek Jarman * Washington Post *
A riotous reimagining of the world-changing encounter, in 1520, between Hernan Cortes, the cocksure Spanish conquistador, and Moctezuma, melancholy emperor of the Mexica * Financial Times, *Summer Reads of 2024* *
Book Information
ISBN 9781529920659
Author Alvaro Enrigue
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Vintage
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 200g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 15mm
Details
Imprint: |
Vintage |
