Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include '' Empire of Dreams'' (1988), '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998), '' United States of Banana'' (2011), and '' Putinoika'' (2024). Braschi writes cross-genre literature and political philosophy in Spanish, Spanglish, and English. Her work is a hybrid of poetry, metafiction, postdramatic theatre, memoir, manifesto, and

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

. Her writings explore the enculturation journey of Hispanic immigrants, and dramatize the three main political options of Puerto Rico: independence, colony, and state.

Early life

Giannina Braschi was born to an upper-class family of Italian ancestry in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In her teen years, she was a founding member of the San Juan Children's Choir, a fashion model, and a tennis champion. Her father Euripides ("Pilo") Braschi was also a tennis champion. Her brother, Miguel Braschi, was the plaintiff in a landmark case in 1989 regarding the rights of same-sex couples. In the 1970s, Braschi studied literature and philosophy in Madrid, Rome, Rouen, and London, before she settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She credited her start in poetry to the older Spanish poets who mentored her when she lived in Madrid: Claudio Rodríguez, Carlos Bousoño, Vicente Aleixandre, and Blas de Otero. Braschi credits Puerto Rican playwright René Marqués and public intellectual Nilita Vientós Gastón as her early mentors.

Academic career

With a PhD in Hispanic Literatures from State University of New York, Stony Brook (1980), Braschi was a professor at Rutgers University, City University of New York, and

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

. Braschi has received awards and fellowships from institutions including

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

, Danforth Scholarship, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Rutgers University, and PEN, among others. She published a book on the poetry of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer and essays on Cervantes, Garcilaso, César Vallejo, Juan Ramon Jimenez and

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

Literary career

Braschi's work is situated in the Latino

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

, a "burgeoning body of work that testifies to Latino writers’ abiding interest in the avant-garde as a means for engaging ideas of material, social relevance". Her writings are also placed within the fields of

Postcolonial Postcolonialism (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and extractivism, exploitation of colonized pe ...

, Postmodern, and Nuyorican literatures, as well as Latino political philosophy. Braschi is considered a "revolutionary voice" in contemporary Latin American literature".

Spanish: ''El Imperio de los sueños''

In the 1980s, Braschi wrote dramatic poetry in Spanish prose in New York City. Her postmodern poetry titles were published in Barcelona, Spain, including: ''Asalto al tiempo'' (Assault on Time, 1980), ''La Comedia profana'' (Profane Comedy, 1985), and ''El Imperio de los sueños'' ('' Empire of Dreams'', 1988). She was part of the Nuyorican movement. New York City is the site and subject of much of her poetry. In a climactic episode of Braschi's ''Empire of Dreams'', " Pastoral or the Inquisition of Memories", shepherds invade 5th Avenue during the Puerto Rican Day Parade and take over the City of New York; the shepherds ring the bells of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and seize the observation deck of the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

. Immigrant characters play the role of other characters, swapping names, genders, personal histories, and identities. Alicia Ostriker situates her gender-bending and genre-blending poetry as having a "sheer erotic energy that defies definition and dogma."

Spanglish: ''Yo-Yo Boing! ''

She published the first full-length Spanglish novel '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' in 1998. ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' explores "the lived experiences of urban life for Hispanics, as in the case with New York City, and her principal interest is in representing how individuals move in and out of different cultural coordinates, including one so crucial as language." The book was written in an era of renewed calls for English-only laws, ethnic cleansing campaigns, and corporate censorship. "For decades, Dominican and Puerto Rican authors have carried out a linguistic revolution", noted ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', "and Giannina Braschi, especially in her novel ''Yo-Yo Boing!'', testify to it".

English: ''United States of Banana''

Braschi published the geopolitical comic-tragedy '' United States of Banana'', her first book written entirely in English, in 2011.Sheeran, Amy, and Amanda M. Smith. "A Graphic Revolution: Talking Poetry & Politics with Giannina Braschi." ''Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures''. 2.2 (2018): United States of 3-4. It is a postmodern cross-genre work that opens with the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11. The work is a scathing critique of 21st-century

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and the global war on terror. Subjects include

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, mass incarceration, financial terrorism, colonial debt structures, and "power imbalances within the Americas." The work is celebratory of foreign influences. Braschi stated in '' Evergreen Review'' that she considered herself "more French than Beckett, Picasso and Gertrude Stein", and identifies as the "granddaughter of Alfred Jarry and Antonin Artaud, bastard child of Samuel Beckett and

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

, half-sister to Heiner Müller, kissing cousin of Tadeusz Kantor, and lover of Witkiewicz".

English: ''Putinoika'', a Modern Bacchae

Braschi's epic tragicomedy ''Putinoika'' (Brown Ink, Flowersong, 2024) deals with frenzy and plague in the Putin and Trump era. The mixed-genre work is based on the ancient Greek tragedy Bacchae by Euripides. The political satire unfolds in three parts: Palinode, Bacchae, and Putinoika. Themes include delusion, collusion, pollution There is a vast array of historical, mythic, and contemporary political characters spanning Antigone, Electra, Dionysus, Mari Callas, El Greco, Greta Thurnberg, Nancy Pelosi, Melania, Ivanka, Pendejo. There are also sets of humorous characters or literary choruses such as the Muses of Bacchus, the Agents of Pendejo, the Putinas of Putin, the Maenads, Doubles of Trump. Ending with a mediation of creativity and the creation of a new genre, the work has received critical praise from poets and scholars such as Forrest Gander, Carmen Boullosa, Miguel-Angel Zapata, and Elidio La Torre-Lagares, among others.

Adaptations and translations

Giannina Braschi's texts have been adapted and applied to popular culture and fields such as television comedy, chamber music, comic books, industrial design, and ecological urban planning. Michael Zansky has used Braschi's texts in his paintings and Michael Somoroff has created short films with her works. There is a theater play by Juan Pablo Felix, a Giannina Chair by industrial designer Ian Stell, chamber music by Puerto Rican composer Gabriel Bouche Caro, and a graphic novel by Joakim Lindengren of United States of Banana. Puerto Rican composer Gabriel Bouche Caro has composed chamber music works with her poems. There is a namesake Giannina chair designed by American industrial designer Ian Stell. Her books have been translated into English by Tess O'Dwyer, into Spanish by Manuel Broncano, and into Swedish by Helena Eriksson and Hannah Nordenhok.

Political activism

Braschi is an advocate for Puerto Rican independence. She declared the independence of Puerto Rico in '' United States of Banana'' and stated in the press that "

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

is not an option — it is a human right." In the 1990s, she protested the United States Navy's bombing exercises in Vieques, along with politicians Rubén Berríos and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., singers Danny Rivera and Willie Colón, and fellow authors Ana Lydia Vega and Rigoberta Menchú. Braschi spoke on a panel on "The New Censorship" at the PEN 2012 World Voices Festival where she offered "a critique of 21st century capitalism in which hecondemned corporate censorship and control." In July 2019, Braschi led early marches outside La Fortaleza in Old San Juan to demand the resignation of Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello, and joined massive protests, with singers Bad Bunny, Residente, and

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

, that led to the Governor's resignation.

Books

* Putinoika, Brown Ink, Flowersong Press, 2024. *'' Urbanismo ecológico en América Latina''. '' Mohsen Mostafavi,'' Gareth Doherty, Marina Correia, Ana Maria Duran Calisto, and Luis Valenzuela (eds.). Editorial Gustavo Gili/Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2019. . *''Two Crowns of The Egg,'' with Michael Somoroff, Donald Kuspit. *'' Estados Unidos de Banana,'' with Manuel Broncano, AmazonCrossing, Madrid, ''2015. '' *'' United States of Banana,'' AmazonCrossing, Seattle, 2011. * '' Yo-Yo Boing!,'' AmazonCrossing, Seattle, 2011. * '' Empire of Dreams,'' AmazonCrossing, Seattle, 2011. * '' El imperio de los sueños'', Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, 2000. * ''Yo-Yo Boing!'', Latin American Literary Review, Pittsburgh, 1998. * '' Empire of Dreams'' (English translation by Tess O'Dwyer; Introduction by Alicia Ostriker), Yale University Press, New Haven/London, 1994. * '' El imperio de los sueños'', Anthropos Editorial del hombre, Barcelona, 1988. * ''Libro de payasos y bufones'', Grafica Uno, Giorgio Upiglio, Milan, 1987. * ''La comedia profana'', Anthropos Editorial del hombre, Barcelona, 1985. * ''Asalto al tiempo'', Ambitos Literarios, Barcelona, 1980.

Scholarly works

* ''"Breve tratado del poeta artista"'', ''Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos,'' No. 433-36, 1986 (an essay on the poetry of

). * ''"La gravedad de la armonía en ‘Soledades galerías y otros pomas’ de Machado,"'' ''Plural,'' 1983 (an essay on the poetry of Antonio Machado). * ''"La poesía de Bécquer: El tiempo de los objetos o los espacios de la luz"'', ''Costa Amic,'' Mexico City, 1982 (a scholarly book on the poetry of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer). * ''"La Metamorfosis del ingenio en la Égloga III de Garcilaso,"'' ''Revista canadiense de estudios hispánicos,'' 1979 (an essay on Garcilaso's third eclogue). * ''"Cinco personajes fugaces en el camino de Don Quijote"'', ''Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos,'' No. 328, 1977 (an essay on ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'' by Cervantes).

Awards and honors

* Angela Y. Davis Award, American Studies Association, 2024. * Medalla Fray Luis de León de Poesía Iberoamericana (Ibero-American Poetry Medal), 2025 * Enrique Anderson Imbert, North American Academy of the Spanish Language, 2022.Association of Academies of the Spanish Language. https://www.asale.org/noticia/la-escritora-giannina-braschi-recibe-el-premio-enrique-anderson-imbert-2022-de-la-anle * Danforth Scholarship * El Diario La Prensa's Outstanding Women of 1998 *

Fellowship * National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship * New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship * Peter S. Reed Foundation/InterAmericas * PEN American Center's Open Book Award * Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña/grant

References

External links

Library
of Congress, National Book Festival, Giannina Braschi.

The Evergreen Review:"United States of Banana" Reviewed by Cristina Garrigos and Daniela Daniele (2011)

, WAPA TV, "Escritora puertorriqueña que poco a poco se ha abierto paso en Estados Unidos" by Normando Valentín, December 2011. # , television program in Spanish, "Celebrities desde Nueva York," con Alfonso Diaz, (Giannina Braschi on the collapse of the American Empire on September 11), November 2011.

"What to Read Now: Mixed-Genre Literature," World Literature Today, September–October 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Braschi, Giannina 1953 births Living people 20th-century Puerto Rican poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century Puerto Rican women writers 20th-century Puerto Rican writers 21st-century Puerto Rican poets 21st-century American poets 21st-century Puerto Rican women writers Postcolonial theorists Epic poets Hispanic and Latino American novelists Hispanic and Latino American poets Hispanic and Latino American writers National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Novelists from New York (state) Writers from San Juan, Puerto Rico Postmodern feminists Postmodern writers Puerto Rican female tennis players Puerto Rican feminists Puerto Rican independence activists 20th-century Puerto Rican novelists Puerto Rican people of Italian descent Puerto Rican women short story writers Weird fiction writers American women satirists Puerto Rican women poets 21st-century Puerto Rican dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Puerto Rican novelists Puerto Rican women novelists