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Book: You Dreamed of Empires
Author: Álvaro Enrigue, Natasha Wimmer (Translator)
Reviewed by: Kirk Bowman, Full Professor and Rise Up & Care Term Chair in Global Development & Identity at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Tech; Founder and Director, Rise Up & Care
You Dreamed of Empires is an extraordinary trip into a psychedelic, hilarious, violent and surreal culture clash in Tenochtitlan (modern day Mexico City) between Moctezuma and Hérnan Cortés in a single day in 1519.
Enrigue has the gift of taking liberties with history that produce a more accurate understanding of this complex event where the outcome is decided by egos, frailties, dumb luck, utter incompetence, violence, and lots of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Empires is a dark comedy on the fog of war.
Kirk Bowman
Empires is a dark comedy on the fog of war. Cortés had two translators. A shipwrecked priest—Aguilar—who as a slave learned to speak Mayan and a young woman—La Malinche—also enslaved and bitter about it, who could speak Mayan and Nahuatl. Both translators have their own agendas and secrets, so when any communication is translated from Moctezuma to an emissary to La Malinche to Aguilar to Cortés or vice versa, misunderstandings and confusion results from this consequential game of telephone.
It is difficult to root for many of the characters besides the strategic La Malinche, who was enslaved first by the Mayans and then by Cortéz. Moctezuma is a stoned and fickle emperor of a declining kingdom, incapable of leadership, losing allies, and threatened by any more resolute commander. The Spaniards were vile mercenaries, happy to rape, pillage, and kill without regret.
It is a perfect stew for the historical reimagining and biting satire that Enrigue delivers with an original experimental narrative that entertains and informs.
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