Born in the United States in 1950, Giacomo Donis has lived in Venice, Italy, since 1972. 'Love it or leave it.' He made and sold thousands of beautiful inexpensive earrings for ten years to survive and then prosper, before forging ahead into the slave's life—thirty years translating art critics, philosophers, and marxists, from Achille Bonito Oliva to Jacques Derrida to Amadeo Bordiga, founder of the Italian Communist Party. An Abyss of Dreams is the companion volume of his 'political autobiography' The Empty Shield (2020).