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. . . And Dreams Are Dreams: Vassilikos

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. . . And Dreams Are Dreams: Vassilikos

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Overview

Greece's most acclaimed living novelist gives us a magical realist portrait of contemporary Europe and contemporary Europeans. Here are seven tales that explore the themes of materialism, post Cold War politics, love, religious faith, and the power of imagination. In the tradition of Gabriel García Márquez and Luigi Pirandello, Vassilikos writes of the fantasies within reality, the spirit in existence, and the art within life.

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ISBN-13:	9781888363005
Publisher:	Seven Stories Press
Publication date:	01/09/1996
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.87(w) x 8.54(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Born in 1933 in Kavalla in Northern Greece, VASSILIS VASSILIKOS grew up mostly in Salonika. After the military coup in 1967, he spent seven years in exile, returning to Greece in 1974. Author of some 120 books, translated into more than twenty foreign languages, Vassilikos is Greece's formost living novelist. His novel, Z, was adapted for film by Costa Gavras, winning the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969.

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Editorial Reviews

From the metafictional to the fabulous, this evocative tangle of overlapping, intertwining and conflicting stories from the prolific Vassilikos whimsically renders the colors and contradictions of contemporary Greece. Themes of exile and repatriation, personal mythology, political decline, the weight of history, and, ubiquitously, the importance of dreaming resonate through a deceptively lighthearted narrative … Vassilikos's singular mixture of self-consciousness, naturalism, allegory and caprice results in fiction both provocative and entertaining.” –Publishers Weekly

“This collection of short fiction but the author of Z presents magical realism at its best … A narrative tour de force.” –Library Journal

From the Publisher

From the metafictional to the fabulous, this evocative tangle of overlapping, intertwining and conflicting stories from the prolific Vassilikos (Z) whimsically renders the colors and contradictions of contemporary Greece. Themes of exile and repatriation, personal mythology, political decline, the weight of history and, ubiquitously, the importance of dreaming resonate through a deceptively lighthearted narrative. The title story recounts the revolutionary political impact of a newspaper based entirely on people's dreams. In ``the white bear,'' the escapades of a performing bear are tracked throughout the country, including an escape from his keeper in downtown Athens. Meanwhile, the devout and beautiful Doa Rosita appears hither and thither in the book, ultimately giving her heart-literally, in a transplant operation-to her beloved Don Pacifico. And ``stories of taxi drivers'' chronicles several memorable if rather surreal tales picked up from cabdrivers by an overly curious narrator. Vassilikos's singular mixture of self-consciousness, naturalism, allegory and caprice results in fiction both provocative and entertaining. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This collection of short fiction by the author of Z (Four Walls, 1991) presents magical realism at its best. The title story sets the tone, telling how five men start a newspaper reprinting other people's dreams, capturing the imagination of all Greeks and subverting the government. "History" uses a decadent weekend aboard a yacht to explore further the idea of government through the old captain's reflections on the history of modern Greece. In "Stories of Taxi Drivers," Vassilikos skips lightly from stolen tomatoes to a woman filling a bed with dollars, from an animal trainer transforming a tigress into a woman to an immigrant accused of arson. The final pieces tell of a couple whose love survives all threats, even the death of one and the transplant of her heart into the other. A narrative tour de force, this work is highly recommended for all libraries.-Paul E. Hutchison, Bellefonte, Pa.

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