{"product_id":"i-the-supreme-isbn-9780525564690","title":"I the Supreme","description":"\u003ci\u003eI the Supreme\u003c\/i\u003e imagines a dialogue between the nineteenth-century Paraguayan dictator known as Dr. Francia and Policarpo Patiño, 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.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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,\u003ci\u003e I the Supreme \u003c\/i\u003eis a darkly comic, deeply moving meditation on power and its abuse—and on the role of language in making and unmaking whole worlds.“A richly textured, brilliant book. . . . One of the milestones of the Latin American novel.” —Carlos Fuentes, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.” —\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “The most magnificent work, most magnificently translated, to come from Spanish into English in almost a quarter of a century.” —\u003ci\u003eCommonweal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An elaborate and erudite opus saturated in the verbal bravura of classic modernism.” —John Updike, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[\u003ci\u003eI the Supreme\u003c\/i\u003e’s] breadth of vision and ambition make it important in any language.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New Statesman\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “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.” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003eAugusto Roa Bastos was born in 1917 and is widely considered to be one of Paraguay’s greatest novelists. Best known for his novels \u003ci\u003eI the Supreme\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSon of Man\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303308153061,"sku":"NP9780525564690","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525564690.jpg?v=1767729712","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/i-the-supreme-isbn-9780525564690","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}