Augustos Roa Resfr Bastos (Books)

Augustos Roa Resfr Bastos Books

Augusto Roa Bastos stands as one of the most significant Latin American writers of the 20th century, a Paraguayan novelist and short story writer whose work grapples profoundly with his nation's social and historical landscape. Shaped by experiences with dictatorships and exile, his writing is celebrated for its intricate exploration of power, identity, and freedom. Roa Bastos masterfully weaves together myth, indigenous Guaraní language, and Baroque literary traditions, employing a distinctive style of magic realism. His narratives blend the past and present, drawing on pre-colonial myths and Christian legends to create a unique and compelling literary vision.

I the Supreme

448 pages
16 hours of reading

3.1(17)Add rating

I the Supreme 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.” 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.