Dominican Cultural Commission in the U.S. Will Host Launching of Dominican Writer Franklin Gutiérrez’ Latest Novel

New York, November 4, 2019 – Dominican writer and university professor Dr. Franklin Gutiérrez, will present his latest novel “El rostro sombrío del sueño americano,” (The Grim Face of the American Dream – non official translation) this Saturday, November 16, at the Ministry of Culture’s Dominican Cultural Commission, based in New York City.

The launching ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Commission’s Rafael Villalona Theater, situated at 541 West 145th Street, Second Floor, almost corner of Broadway, in Manhattan.

The novel tells the story of Armando Guerra, a social worker whose father is Dominican and mother Puerto Rican. He was born in a New York City hospital and throughout his life in the United States, he manages to overcome serious obstacles to reach the much-talked about American dream. His strong personality comes from his strong-willed stepmother Granmadre, an American Jew who teachers Latin America literature in New York City. Also, from Doña Epi, a Mexican museographer who consolidates his professional aspirations by linking him with important episodes of U.S. history through a diary written by George Washington and found by her at the Morris-Jumel Mansion, in Manhattan. This is the place where Washington led, between September and October of 1776, the battle of Harlem Heights, the only battle he won in New York and New Jersey during the War of Independence.

“If the American dream is determined by professional, social and economic success, Armando reached this dream. He has a traditional professional, a decent salary, a sound family life, a comfortable home, two children, two Rottweilers and an Angora cat. He, however, doesn’t feel that he has reached this dream. ‘This would be perfect for a full-blooded American, or for those who want to pretend they are. Not for people like who has had to deal with unfinished nightmares, broken dreams, endless nights and, worst yet, drag a long list of woes that no one cares about, or shakes them to their very core and strengthens their conscience,’” he ponders.
Armando’s history ends when, at the age of 55, he resigns. His last warning is that “no one dare write in my tomb an epitaph that is different from the one I have written and that appears at the end of this story. The grim face of the American dream reveals, from a non-passionate perspective, that the American dream is a tremendous nightmare, an illusion.”

Cultural Commissioner Carlos Sánchez invites the general public to the book launching event, explaining that the novel’s author, Franklin Gutiérrez, “is one of the diaspora’s most important writers.”

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Brief Profile

Franklin Gutiérrez is an essayist, literary researcher, poet and educator. He holds a Masters and a Doctorate in Hispanic American and Caribbean Literature from the City University of New York (CUNY), where he has taught courses in this area since 1988. He has published 23 books covering various areas, such as “Evas terrenales: Bibliographies of 150 Dominican Women Authors (2000);” “33 Dominican Historians (2002);” “Dictionary of Dominican Literature (2004);” “El canal de la delicia (2010);” “Diasporando (2011);” “De Cementerios, Varones y Tumbas (2012),” and “Las tumbas de los Trujillo” (2016) (all non-official translations).

In the year 2000 his book “Enriquillo: Radiografía de un héroe galvaniano” won the National Essay Award in the Dominican Republic. This is his second novel.