Angélica Gorodischer Kalpa Imperial review and information of the fantasy novel by the Argentinian writer. Penguin Modern Classics  will publish the English translation of Kalpa Imerial, written by Angélica Gorodischer on July 17, 2026. Here you can read information about the content of the book, the author and the publication.

Angélica Gorodischer Kalpa Imperial reviews and information

Kalpa Imperial, The Greatest Empire That Never Was, the fantasy  novel from 1983 by Angélica Gorodischer, the author from Argentina, appears in the media, we’ll highlight it on this page.

• Ursula K. Le Guin, whose novel The Left Hand of Darkness is one of science fiction’s finest achievements, has translated a work by the Argentine writer Angelica Gorodischer. Kalpa Imperial recounts the history of an imaginary empire in a series of tales that adopt the voice of a marketplace storyteller. While the point of each tale eludes paraphrase, the cumulative burden is the imperfectibility of human society. Le Guin’s translation, which ranges from blunt to elegant to oracular, seems like the ideal medium for this grim if inescapable message.” (New York Times Book Review)
• “Nabokovian in its accretion of strange and rich detail, making the story seem at once scientific and dreamlike” (Time Out)

Kalpa Imperial

The Greatest Empire That Never Was

• Author: Angélica Gorodischer (Argentina)
• Book type: Argentine fantasy novel
• Original: Kalpa Imperial (1983)
• English translation: Ursula K. Le Guin
• Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics
• To be released: July 17, 2026
• Length: 272 pages
• Sizes: 16 x 19,8 x x 13 cm
• Weight: 192 gram
• Prize: £ 10.99 / £ 5.99
• Format: paperback / ebook
• Buying Options >

Blurb of the Angélica Gorodischer novel

In city squares and golden palaces, a series of storytellers recount the history of the greatest Empire that never was: a history in which orphans rise from the underworld to the throne, mad emperors raze cities, captive dancers induce fatal delirium and murderous empresses plot against their own children.

’s novel, masterfully translated by Ursula K. Le Guin, conjures a vivid fictional universe of labyrinthine cities, desert caravans and the lawless South – and of an Empire fated to rise, fall and rise again.

Angélica Gorodischer was born on July 28, 1928. in Buenos Aires. Altough born in the capital of Argentina, was she was most closely associated with the city of Rosario, her home since childhood and also the home of her famous character, Trafalgar Medrano. She wrote over twenty books, including Trafalgar (1979) and the fantastical Kalpa Imperial (1983-4), which was translated into English by Ursula K. Le Guin. Her work has been compared to that of Borges and Calvino, and she won numerous literary prizes as well as an award for her contribution to women’s rights. In 2011 she received a World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement.

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