You Dreamed of Empires

by Alvaro Enrigue · 2023

You Dreamed of Empires, by visionary Mexican novelist Álvaro Enrigue and translated by Natasha Wimmer, is a hallucinatory, revelatory re‑imagining of the first day of Hernán Cortés’s arrival in Tenochtitlan in 1519. The novel follows the Spaniards and the Mexica court through a tense ceremonial lunch, the fraught translations of Friar Aguilar and Malinalli, and the inner turmoil of Emperor Moctezuma, who retreats into hallucinogenic rituals. Enrigue blends historical detail with magical realism, turning the moment of conquest into a surreal, alternate‑history counter‑attack that questions language, empire, chance, and the power of translation. The result is a vivid, electric narrative that feels like a dream, praised as a New York Times Top Ten Book of 2024 and a New York Public Library Top Ten Book of the Year.