Álvaro Enrigue's new novel, "You Dreamed of Empires," recounts the fateful meeting of Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma that doomed the Aztec civilizations.

Álvaro Enrigue's new novel, "You Dreamed of Empires," recounts the fateful meeting of Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma that doomed the Aztec civilizations.

The Spanish and the Aztecs don't know what to make of each other in Alvaro Enrigue's new novel, "You Dreamed of Empires." He talks with NPR's Scott Simon about getting into a 16th-century mindframe.

Álvaro Enrigue's new novel, "You Dreamed of Empires," recounts the fateful meeting of Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma that doomed the Aztec civilizations.