I the Supreme

<i>I the Supreme</i> 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. <p/> 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> I the Supreme </i>is a darkly comic deeply moving meditation on power and its abuse--and on the role of language in making and unmaking whole worlds.