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Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was

Name: Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was
Rating: 3.92 (1634 reviews)
Author: Angélica Gorodischer

Angélica Gorodischer January 1, 1983

3.92 1.6k Ratings

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Synopsis

This is the first of Argentinean writer Angelica 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 this is much more than a simple political allegory or fable. It is also a celebration of the power of storytelling. Gorodischer and translator Ursula K. Le Guin 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 Angelica Gorodischer, a novel which will enthrall readers already familiar with the worlds of Le Guin.

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