Kalpa Imperial

the Greatest Empire That Never Was

translated by Ursula K. Le Guin

paper · $16 · 9781931520058

ebook · 9781618730190

New York Times Summer Reading pick.

Kalpa Imperial is the first of Argentinean writer Angélica Gorodischer’s nineteen award-winning books to be translated into English. In eleven chapters, Kalpa Imperial’s multiple storytellers relate the story of a fabled nameless empire which has risen and fallen innumerable times. Fairy tales, oral histories and political commentaries are all woven tapestry-style into Kalpa Imperial: beggars become emperors, democracies become dictatorships, and history becomes legends and stories.

But Kalpa Imperial is much more than a simple political allegory or fable. It is also a celebration of the power of storytelling. Gorodischer and acclaimed writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who has translated Kalpa Imperial, are a well-matched, sly and delightful team of magician-storytellers. Rarely have author and translator been such an effortless pairing. Kalpa Imperial is a powerful introduction to the writing of Angélica Gorodischer, a novel which will enthrall readers already familiar with the worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin.

Read an excerpt on our website: smallbeerpress.com.

“The history of an imaginary empire in a series of tales that adopt the voice of a marketplace storyteller. . . . While the point of each tale eludes paraphrase, the cumulative burden is the imperfectibility of human society . . . Le Guin’s translation, which ranges from blunt to elegant to oracular, seems like the ideal medium for this grim if inescapable message.” — New York Times Book Review

“A novel that evokes weighty matters lightly and speaks of self-evident wisdom while itself remaining mysterious.” – Washington Post

* “This Scheherazade-like collection of linked tales, loosely connected by a storyteller, form the rich history of an imaginary civilization from its hunter-gatherer origins to its peak as a technologically sophisticated empire. Each story is concerned with the use and abuse of power, especially the inequities of power between men and women, the rich and the poor, and the state and the individual. Never heavy-handed, the stories flow like fables and gradually show the futility of seeking power and trying to rule others. The dreamy, ancient voice is not unlike Le Guin’s, and this collection should appeal to her fans as well as to those of literary fantasy and Latin American fiction.” — Library Journal (Starred Review)

“There’s a very modern undercurrent to the Kalpa empire, with tales focusing on power (in a political sense) rather than generic moral lessons. Her mythology is consistent — wide in scope, yet not overwhelming. The myriad names of places and people can be confusing, almost Tolkeinesque in their linguistic originality. But the stories constantly move and keep the book from becoming overwhelming. Gorodischer has a sizeable body of work to be discovered, with eighteen books yet to reach English readers, and this is an impressive introduction.” — Review of Contemporary Fiction

“Those looking for offbeat literary fantasy will welcome Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was, by Argentinean writer Angélica Gorodischer. Translated from the Spanish by Ursula Le Guin, this is the first appearance in English of this prize-winning South American fantasist.” — Publishers Weekly

“Ursula Le Guin’s translation of Angelica Gorodischer’s Kalpa Imperial is wonderful.” — Jo Walton, Tor.com

“It’s always difficult to wrap up a rave review without babbling redundant praises. This time I’ll simply say ‘Buy this Book!’” — Locus

“The elaborate history of an imaginary country . . . is Nabokovian in its accretion of strange and rich detail, making the story seem at once scientific and dreamlike.” — Time Out New York

“These stories — like this empire — are deceptively simple, as they are built from complex components of a deep and richly imagined history.” — Strange Horizons

“This is definitely a book to savour slowly.” — Strange Charm

“[A] remarkable collaboration . . . an engossing escape . . . a useful tonic and reminder that the irascible perspectives of Borges and Cortazar are alive and well.” — Bridge Magazine

Kalpa Imperial has been awarded the Prize “Más Allá” (1984), the Prize “Sigfrido Radaelli” (1985) and also the Prize Poblet (1986). It has had four editions in Spanish: Minotauro (Buenos Aires), Alcor (Barcelona), Gigamesh (Barcelona), and Planeta Emecé Editions (Buenos Aires).

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