I the Supreme

I the Supreme imagines a dialogue between the nineteenth-century Paraguayan dictator known as Dr. Francia and Policarpo Pati o, 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 Supreme is a darkly comic, deeply moving meditation on power and its abuse--and on the role of language in making and unmaking whole worlds.

Author: Augusto Roa Bastos
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 02/26/2019
Pages: 448
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 1.10d
ISBN13: 9780525564690
ISBN10: 0525564691
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Hispanic & Latino
- Fiction | Political
- Fiction | Literary

About the Author
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.