Overview

""I was a monument to immigration--now I'm a border control cop."" So admits the Statue of Liberty in Giannina Braschi's United States of Banana, a rollicking and nakedly political allegory of US imperialism and Puerto Rican independence. Illustrated by Swedish comic book artist Joakim Lindengren and based on Braschi's epic manifesto by the same title, the story takes us along on the madcap adventures of Zarathustra, Hamlet, and Giannina herself as they rescue the Puerto Rican prisoner Segismundo from under the skirt of the Statue of Liberty. Throughout their quest, the characters debate far-ranging political and philosophical subjects, spanning terrorism, global warming, mass incarceration, revolution, and love. The Marx Brothers, Pablo Neruda, Barack Obama, Disney characters and more make appearances in this stirring call to overthrow empire, liberate the imprisoned masses, and build a new country rooted in friendship, art, poetry, and laughter.

Full Product Details

9780814257869

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Reviews

"""United States of Banana: A Graphic Novel combines artwork and narrative to dissect the hypocrisy of the American Dream, all the while exploring major issues such as racism and xenophobia, as well as political and artistic freedom. At its core, this humorous yet persuasive book is a love song (or a canto de vida y esperanza) to immigration, to freely moving across borders and languages, to say and depict our wildest fantasies, even when walls try to lock us in or keep us out."" --Thomas Rothe, the Latinx Project ""As iconoclastic and entertaining as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking, United States of Banana is a tale for our times and unreservedly recommended for community, college and university library political graphic novel collections."" --Midwest Book Review ""The trippiest work on this year's Bookshelf."" --Richard Price and Sally Price, New West Indian Guide ""To say The United States of Bananais iconoclastic is to state the obvious. Then again, what is our civilization if not a graveyard for broken gods? Braschi works the night shift at that graveyard."" --Ilan Stavans, author of Angelitos ""United States of Banana is a work of metamorphoses and of becomings, masterfully achieved through the image inspiring words of the iconic Latinx poet and radical thinker Giannina Braschi and the artwork of Joakim Lindengren, whose illustrations give them a bizarre and beautiful twist. Where Braschi parodies--always with utmost respect--the history of literature, Lindengren does the same with the history of art (classical and contemporary), and together they have created a book of words and images, an artefact, an event."" - Rolando P�rez, Latinx Spaces"

As iconoclastic and entertaining as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking, United States of Banana is a tale for our times and unreservedly recommended for community, college and university library political graphic novel collections. --Midwest Book Review To say The United States of Banana is iconoclastic is to state the obvious. Then again, what is our civilization if not a graveyard for broken gods? Braschi works the night shift at that graveyard. --Ilan Stavans, author of Angelitos

To say The United States of Banana is iconoclastic is to state the obvious. Then again, what is our civilization if not a graveyard for broken gods? Braschi works the night shift at that graveyard. --Ilan Stavans, author of Angelitos

""United States of Banana: A Graphic Novel combines artwork and narrative to dissect the hypocrisy of the American Dream, all the while exploring major issues such as racism and xenophobia, as well as political and artistic freedom. At its core, this humorous yet persuasive book is a love song (or a canto de vida y esperanza) to immigration, to freely moving across borders and languages, to say and depict our wildest fantasies, even when walls try to lock us in or keep us out."" --Thomas Rothe, the Latinx Project ""As iconoclastic and entertaining as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking, United States of Banana is a tale for our times and unreservedly recommended for community, college and university library political graphic novel collections."" --Midwest Book Review ""The trippiest work on this year's Bookshelf."" --Richard Price and Sally Price, New West Indian Guide ""To say The United States of Bananais iconoclastic is to state the obvious. Then again, what is our civilization if not a graveyard for broken gods? Braschi works the night shift at that graveyard."" --Ilan Stavans, author of Angelitos ""United States of Banana is a work of metamorphoses and of becomings, masterfully achieved through the image inspiring words of the iconic Latinx poet and radical thinker Giannina Braschi and the artwork of Joakim Lindengren, whose illustrations give them a bizarre and beautiful twist. Where Braschi parodies--always with utmost respect--the history of literature, Lindengren does the same with the history of art (classical and contemporary), and together they have created a book of words and images, an artefact, an event."" - Rolando Pérez, Latinx Spaces

Author Information

Giannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican writer based in New York City. Her works encompass poetry, fiction, manifesto, and drama and include the poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams and the experimental Spanglish novel Yo-Yo Boing! Joakim Lindengren is a Swedish cartoonist, illustrator, and artist whose celebrated titles include the Captain Stofil series and Ugly. Amanda M. Smith is Assistant Professor of Latin American Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she researches twentieth- and twenty-first-century Latin American cultural production. Amy Sheeran is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Otterbein University. She specializes in early modern Peninsular literature.

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