Latin America has seen, time and again, the rise of dictators, Supreme Leaders possessed of the dream of absolute power, who sought to impose their mad visions of Perfect Order on their own peoples. Latin American writers, in turn, have responded with fictional portraits of such figures, and no novel of this genre is as universally esteemed as Augusto Roa Bastosβs I the Supreme, a book that draws on and reimagines the career of the man who was βelectedβ Supreme Dictator for Life in Paraguay in 1814. By turns grotesque, comic, and strangely moving, I the Supreme is a profound meditation on the uses and abuses of powerβover men, over events, over language itself.
From Publishers Weekly
In a transcendence of imagination over historical actuality, this novel by the Paraguayan writer (an exile for the past 40 years) portrays the life and approaching death of Jose Gaspar Rodriquez de Francia, raised to the condition of Paraguay's "Supreme Dictator for Life" in 1814. Power is the ruler's only interest and goal; he has neither family nor friends, only the constant presence of his secretary-confidant Patino. Bastos's relentless investigation of the depths of iniquitythat of both the "Supreme" and his antagonistsis an illuminating (and depressing) journey into the night. But 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. Clotted with footnotes both factual and invented, filled with allusions and erudite references, the novel has eminent satisfactions for the discriminating reader.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In 1814, shortly after the deposition of the last royal governor, Paraguay "elected" Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia its dictator for life. He devoted that life to his country's best interests as he saw them, isolating Paraguay from all foreign commerce and religion. His spies were everywhere. This modern Latin American classic is the imagined life of El Supremodictated from his deathbed, preserved in musty, worm-eaten ledgers, full of witchcraft and political intrigue. The author has lived in exile from Paraguay since 1947. The translation retains puns, alliteration, and a rich vocabulary from the Guarani and Spanish languages. For fiction readers who enjoy a challenge. Maurice Taylor, Brunswick Cty. Lib., Southport, N.C.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.