NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Giannina Braschi

Cutting-edge poet and novelist Giannina Braschi (b. San Juan, Puerto Rico, February 5, 1953) is credited with writing the first Spanglish vanguard novel, YO-YO BOING! (1998). She is the author of the poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams (Yale, 1994), which chronicles the Latin American immigrant's experiences in the United States. "For decades, Dominican and Puerto Rican authors have carried out a linguistic revolution," noted The Boston Globe, and "Giannina Braschi, especially in her novel YO-YO BOING!, testify to it." It has been suggested that Hispanicisms_in_English be merged into this article or section. ...

Literary Influences

In the 1970s, Giannina Braschi was a student of literature in Madrid, Rome, Paris, and London, before she settled in New York City. She obtained a PhD in Hispanic Literatures (State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1980) and has taught at Rutgers University, City University of New York, and Colgate University, where she served as a Distinguished Chair of Creative Writing (1997). She was a foreign correspondent for Grazie magazine (2001-2002).

Braschi's early writings were scholarly in nature and focused on the titans of the Spanish Golden Age, as well as the vanguard poets of Latin America and Spain. She published a book on the Romantic poet Gustavo Adolfo Becquer and essays on Cervantes, Garcilaso, Vallejo, Juan Ramon Jimenez, and Garcia Lorca. She later became obsessed with the dramatic and philosophical works of French, German, Polish, Irish, and Russian authors. Though catagorized as novels, her later works are experimental in style and format, and celebratory of foreign influences. In the 50th anniversary edition of Evergreen Review, Braschi notes that she considers herself "more French than Beckett, Picasso, and Gertrude Stein" and believes that she is the "granddaughter of Alfred Jarry and Antonin Artaud, bastard child of Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, half-sister to Heiner Müller, kissing cousin of Tadeus Kantor, and lover of Witkiewicz" (www.evergreenreview.com). Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (February 17, 1836-December 22, 1870) was an Spanish poet and tale writer, one of the most important in Spanish literature, associated to the romanticism movement. ... Cervantes can refer to: Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, a municipality in the Philippines Cervantes, a town in Western Australia Cervantes de Leon, a character in the Soul Calibur series of fighting games This is a... For the Peruvian writer, Garcilaso de la Vega, see Inca Garcilaso de la Vega Garcilaso de la Vega was the prototypical Spanish Renaissance man, the soldier-poet who was the most influential (though not the first or the only) poet to introduce Italian Renaissance verse forms, poetic techniques, and themes... Vallejo can refer to: Vallejo, California Vallejo (band) Boris Vallejo, a Peruvian-born American painter CÃ©sar Vallejo, a Peruvian-born Spanish poet. ... Juan Ramón Jiménez (December 24, 1881 - May 29, 1958) was a Spanish poet. ... Federico García Lorca Federico García Lorca (June 5, 1898 - August 19, 1936) was a Spanish poet and dramatist, also remembered as a painter, pianist, and composer. ... Evergreen Review was a literary magazine published by Grove Press in the late 1950s and 1960s. ... Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (September 8, 1873 â€“ November 1, 1907) was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mothers side. ... Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (born September 4, 1896, in Marseille; died March 4, 1948 in Paris) was a French playwright, poet, actor and director. ... Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 â€“ 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish SÃ©amus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 â€“ 13 January 1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... Heiner MÃ¼ller (January 9, 1929 â€“ December 30, 1995) was an East German dramatist and writer. ...

Pivotal Works

In the 1980s, Giannina Braschi burst onto the downtown Nuyorican poetry scene with high-voltage performances of rhythmic intensity, humorous gusto, and anti-imperialistic politics. Her prose poems were written, recited, and published entirely in Spanish during this period. Her first collection of Spanish prose poetry, Asalto al tiempo, debuted in Barcelona in 1980 and was followed by La Comedia profana in 1985. Her collected works appeared under the title El imperio de los suenos in 1988. In a climatic episode ("Pastoral or the Inquisition of Memories"), shepherds invade 5th Avenue on the Puerto Rican Day Parade and take over the City of New York. Poet and feminist scholar Alicia Ostriker wrote in the introduction to the English translation of Empire of Dreams that Braschi's poetry has "sheer erotic energy that defies definition and dogma (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1994)." Nuyorican is a blending of the phrases New York and Puerto Rican and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Rican diaspora located in or around New York City, or of their descendants (especially those raised or still living in the New York area). ... // Prose poetry is usually considered a form of poetry written in prose that breaks some of the normal rules associated with prose discourse, for heightened imagery or emotional effect, among other purposes. ... Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City (2006). ... Alicia Ostriker is an American poet and scholar born in 1937, and is considered a prominent voice in Jewish feminist poetry. ...

During 1990s, Giannina Braschi was consumed with writing the bilingual experimental novel YO-YO BOING! (Latin American Literary Review Press, 1998), which is composed of dramatic dialogues in English, Spanish, and Spanglish. The work is experimental in format and radical in its defiance of English-only laws, ethnic cleansing campaigns, and the corporate imposition of "sameness". The Review of Contemporary Fiction described the bilingual novel as a "synergetic fusion that marks in a determinant fashion the lived experiences of U. S. Hispanics." It has been suggested that Hispanicisms_in_English be merged into this article or section. ...

Giannina Braschi is working on a politically-charged collection of essays in English about the fall of the American empire, tentatively entitled: "Hamlet & Segismundo". The work takes as a springboard the collapse of the World Trade Center, the event which displaced her from the Battery Park nieghborhood that became known as the Ground Zero vicinity. Braschi writes about the death of the businessman, the end of democracy, and the delusion that all men are created equal. Publisher Barney Rosset, founder of Grove Press and The Evergreen Review, said of Giannina Braschi's latest work, "Fascinating, overwhelming, and what I call superb writing. It's as much a performance piece as it a novel. I'd like to stage it." Barnet Lee Rosset, Jr. ...

Translations

Excerpts of Braschi's work have appeared in French, Italian, and Serbian translations. Her collected poetry was translated into English by Tess O'Dwyer, who won the Columbia University Translation Center Award in 1991 for her rendition of "Empire of Dreams", which inaugurated the Yale Library of World Literature in Translation in 1994. Literary journals that have published Tess O'Dwyer's translations include: The Best of Review: Art and Literature of the Americas, Agni, Ars Interpres International, Dickinson Review, Callaloo, Artful Dodge, Evergreen Review, Prose Poem, and Poet Magazine. Scholars who have illuminated Giannina Braschi's texts include Jean Franco, Francine Masiello, Ilan Stavans, Julio Ortega, Laura Loustau, Daniela Daniele, Arnaldo Cruz Malave, Maria Mercedes Carrion, Cristina Garrigos, Francisco Jose Ramos, and Doris Sommer. Evergreen Review was a literary magazine published by Grove Press in the late 1950s and 1960s. ... Jean Franco is a British-born academic and literary critic known for her work on Latin American literature. ... Ilan Stavans Ilan Stavans (born Ilan Stavchansky on April 7, 1961, in Mexico City) is an American intellectual, essayist, lexicographer, cultural commentator, translator, short-story author, TV personality, teacher, and man of letters known for his insights into American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures. ...

Titles

Awards/Honors

Contents

Literary Influences

Pivotal Works

Translations

Titles

Awards/Honors

See Also

Contents

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Pivotal Works

Translations

Titles

Awards/Honors

See Also

Literary Influences