This week, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by Jose Eduardo Agualusa. Though this was one of the longer books i read in this course, i quite enjoyed it. I found that it differed quite a bit in terms of genre from the other novellas i read throughout the semester, which is why i think i enjoyed it so much. It felt new and refreshing. This book kind of toyed with the topic of memory (which a lot of the other novels did as well), however, it had an element of fantasy added to it.
This book mainly follows Daniel Benchimol and a few other characters. Daniel is journalist who dreams vividly about interviewing well known figures. At the beginning of the book, Daniel is faced with divorce and finds himself staying in a beach-side hotel. While swimming one afternoon, he discovers a camera riddled with photos of a woman. The book is then interrupted to tell the story of the hotel owner, Hossi. This man claims to have been struck by lightening twice, and while in hospital discovers that he unknowingly appears in everyone’s dreams wearing a purple coat. The book then moves back to Daniel where he travels to visit the lady in the photos. She is a well known artist who uses dreams as her muse.
One part of this book that i particularly enjoyed reading was Hossi’s story of being held in an apartment and his short lived fling with Ana. Though this was only roughly 10 pages of the novel I really enjoyed it, as a story like this would be something i would totally reach for on my own. I found it to be slightly comedic, while also being romantic at the same time. While being questioned about why Hossi might be appearing in other people’s dreams he responds with “how the fuck would I know?”, a very real answer that made me chuckle. Im also huge romance fan so I definitely enjoyed reading about him and Ana. I had hoped for the rest of the book that they might find their way back to each other.
Did you enjoy the genre of this book more or less than others we have read this semester?
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, fantasy, society
This week, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by Jose Eduardo Agualusa. Though this was one of the longer books i read in this course, i quite enjoyed it. I found that it differed quite a bit in terms of genre from the other novellas i read throughout the semester, which is why i think i enjoyed it so much. It felt new and refreshing. This book kind of toyed with the topic of memory (which a lot of the other novels did as well), however, it had an element of fantasy added to it.
This book mainly follows Daniel Benchimol and a few other characters. Daniel is journalist who dreams vividly about interviewing well known figures. At the beginning of the book, Daniel is faced with divorce and finds himself staying in a beach-side hotel. While swimming one afternoon, he discovers a camera riddled with photos of a woman. The book is then interrupted to tell the story of the hotel owner, Hossi. This man claims to have been struck by lightening twice, and while in hospital discovers that he unknowingly appears in everyone’s dreams wearing a purple coat. The book then moves back to Daniel where he travels to visit the lady in the photos. She is a well known artist who uses dreams as her muse.
One part of this book that i particularly enjoyed reading was Hossi’s story of being held in an apartment and his short lived fling with Ana. Though this was only roughly 10 pages of the novel I really enjoyed it, as a story like this would be something i would totally reach for on my own. I found it to be slightly comedic, while also being romantic at the same time. While being questioned about why Hossi might be appearing in other people’s dreams he responds with “how the fuck would I know?”, a very real answer that made me chuckle. Im also huge romance fan so I definitely enjoyed reading about him and Ana. I had hoped for the rest of the book that they might find their way back to each other.
Did you enjoy the genre of this book more or less than others we have read this semester?
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, fantasy, society
blog#11 – Time and the way She swims through Dreams — As soon as I finished the book, I fell asleep. I read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers in a period where I was (and am) sleeping a lot. I clocked in about 14 or 15 hours straight the other night. I’m not quite sure why […]
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Angola, Dreams, reality, revolution, Swimming, the society of reluctant dreamers, time
The text The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa is set after Angolia’s independence, which also reflects government structures and changes in that structure. The novel’s narrator, Benchimol, recently got a divorce and thus goes to a resort or hotel to be able to rest and recuperate. He’s also a journalist whole tends […]
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with deja-vu, Dreams, memory
In the text, Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Agualusa challenges the meaning and importance of dreams. In the book, they have the ability to appear in people’s dreams, and one character, in particular, can dream about people he hasn’t met and future things that haven’t occurred yet. He can dream about the future. He uses this power to appear in everyone’s dreams in Angolan to overthrow the government, a one-party state. This power over dreams is bizarre and not what we usually think dreams are. Dreams are funny, confusing, metaphorical tales that we become aware of in our sleep that don’t always make sense and can arise hidden feelings or motives we would not know when we are conscious. In the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, this dreaming is not a mere confusion or weird story in our heads but a movement to defeat politics and the political authority at the time. This creates a collective dream among the whole population of Angolans and gives people the courage and bravery within themselves to stand up. As a community together, they are able to find the strength to come together and make a change. This power is crazy to think about and is something we would not see in everyday life.
One question I have is, How can the unconscious affect us so profoundly? Especially when we are conscious and always careless about things and scared?
After watching the lecture, I wanted to reflect on the point about how Agualusa uses dreams as a metaphor to bring change. Jon mentioned in the lecture how this was a metaphor for literature having the same effect. Literature is powerful, and words on a page hold so much meaning, especially in Romance Studies, where the words hold hidden themes and underlying thoughts/memories. I believe that literature has the power to create change. Just like our dreams coming to us in the unconscious, literature is an escape from reality when you read. It is somewhat a form of the unconscious, and that’s why I think it has more power than words from people. Hearing things in the unconscious allows us to fully grasp the idea without adding our own bias from the natural, conscious world.
This book had many themes of repetition and conflict between original and copy stories, just like the conflict between dreams and reality. For example, in the book, when the character meets the woman he previously dreamed about, he calls her a fake image of the woman he dreamed about, and she does not seem real. This challenges the tradition of dreams being a copy and reality the original. Agualusa flips it around many times. This book was sometimes hard to follow because of these confusing, non-traditional themes. Another example of bizarre is when a character tells the world that his brother is dead, but in the end, his brother is there in the political overthrow. Why was this hidden from the reader for so long?
I am super excited to discuss this book this week and hope that I can further understand Agualusa’s intentions and writing!
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with bizarre, divided, dreaming, Dreams, future, resolution, talent, unconscious mind, unity, war
In the text, Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Agualusa challenges the meaning and importance of dreams. In the book, they have the ability to appear in people’s dreams, and one character, in particular, can dream about people he hasn’t met and future things that haven’t occurred yet. He can dream about the future. He uses this power to appear in everyone’s dreams in Angolan to overthrow the government, a one-party state. This power over dreams is bizarre and not what we usually think dreams are. Dreams are funny, confusing, metaphorical tales that we become aware of in our sleep that don’t always make sense and can arise hidden feelings or motives we would not know when we are conscious. In the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, this dreaming is not a mere confusion or weird story in our heads but a movement to defeat politics and the political authority at the time. This creates a collective dream among the whole population of Angolans and gives people the courage and bravery within themselves to stand up. As a community together, they are able to find the strength to come together and make a change. This power is crazy to think about and is something we would not see in everyday life.
One question I have is, How can the unconscious affect us so profoundly? Especially when we are conscious and always careless about things and scared?
After watching the lecture, I wanted to reflect on the point about how Agualusa uses dreams as a metaphor to bring change. Jon mentioned in the lecture how this was a metaphor for literature having the same effect. Literature is powerful, and words on a page hold so much meaning, especially in Romance Studies, where the words hold hidden themes and underlying thoughts/memories. I believe that literature has the power to create change. Just like our dreams coming to us in the unconscious, literature is an escape from reality when you read. It is somewhat a form of the unconscious, and that’s why I think it has more power than words from people. Hearing things in the unconscious allows us to fully grasp the idea without adding our own bias from the natural, conscious world.
This book had many themes of repetition and conflict between original and copy stories, just like the conflict between dreams and reality. For example, in the book, when the character meets the woman he previously dreamed about, he calls her a fake image of the woman he dreamed about, and she does not seem real. This challenges the tradition of dreams being a copy and reality the original. Agualusa flips it around many times. This book was sometimes hard to follow because of these confusing, non-traditional themes. Another example of bizarre is when a character tells the world that his brother is dead, but in the end, his brother is there in the political overthrow. Why was this hidden from the reader for so long?
I am super excited to discuss this book this week and hope that I can further understand Agualusa’s intentions and writing!
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with bizarre, divided, dreaming, Dreams, future, resolution, talent, unconscious mind, unity, war
This week’s reading The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa revolved around dreams. Dreams have always fascinated me, as it probably should for any psychology major. The lecture mentioned how dreams are often considered to be opposed to practicality, and while I believe that can be true at times (with all of its […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, memory, psychology
For the final book of this course, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa. I really liked this book. There was a lot going on that added so much detail to the plot. I especially liked the incorporation of Hossi’s journal entries and the letters between the characters. I always like when authors add different forms of writing to their writing. This in particular reminded me of Paris Peasant because I remember how Aragon incorporated menus and newspaper clippings. On another note, when Daniel Benchimol is dreaming about people that he has not met and events that have not happened yet it reminded me of Amulet and how while trapped inside the bathroom, Auxilio was able to recall memories from the future. However, unlike some of our other readings, I was glad that this one had a more happy ending for Moira, Daniel, and Karinguiri.
The book itself had a dreamlike quality on its own. I found it a little confusing to figure out whether I was reading something that was in the present or in a dream or in the past. It was such an interesting plot combining the political aspect of Angola with the idea of the dream lab technology taking pictures of dreams and how the two began to interact with each other. Dreams in this book were a way of connecting people with similar ideologies. I think Daniels’s daughter, Karinguiri was my favourite character because she was true to her beliefs no matter what. Even with her mother’s family’s disapproval, and being imprisoned she never gave up on what she thought was right.
I thought Daniel Benchimol’s relationship with Moira was interesting considering that he had been recently divorced from Lucrécia who had completely different values than Daniel. At the beginning of the novel, Daniel is upset because of his failed marriage and tells his friend how people shouldn’t marry for love, instead “if people always got married when lucid, they’d only ever do it out of self-interest, like [his] parents.” Then by the end of the novel, we see him re-establish what love means to him and how he can both be in love and have his self-interest in mind. While romance isn’t the most important theme, I thought this aspect of character development was nice to see for Daniel.
My question to the class is: What did you think of Moira and Daniel’s relationship?
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, family, politics, relationships
For the final book of this course, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa. I really liked this book. There was a lot going on that added so much detail to the plot. I especially liked the incorporation of Hossi’s journal entries and the letters between the characters. I always like when authors add different forms of writing to their writing. This in particular reminded me of Paris Peasant because I remember how Aragon incorporated menus and newspaper clippings. On another note, when Daniel Benchimol is dreaming about people that he has not met and events that have not happened yet it reminded me of Amulet and how while trapped inside the bathroom, Auxilio was able to recall memories from the future. However, unlike some of our other readings, I was glad that this one had a more happy ending for Moira, Daniel, and Karinguiri.
The book itself had a dreamlike quality on its own. I found it a little confusing to figure out whether I was reading something that was in the present or in a dream or in the past. It was such an interesting plot combining the political aspect of Angola with the idea of the dream lab technology taking pictures of dreams and how the two began to interact with each other. Dreams in this book were a way of connecting people with similar ideologies. I think Daniels’s daughter, Karinguiri was my favourite character because she was true to her beliefs no matter what. Even with her mother’s family’s disapproval, and being imprisoned she never gave up on what she thought was right.
I thought Daniel Benchimol’s relationship with Moira was interesting considering that he had been recently divorced from Lucrécia who had completely different values than Daniel. At the beginning of the novel, Daniel is upset because of his failed marriage and tells his friend how people shouldn’t marry for love, instead “if people always got married when lucid, they’d only ever do it out of self-interest, like [his] parents.” Then by the end of the novel, we see him re-establish what love means to him and how he can both be in love and have his self-interest in mind. While romance isn’t the most important theme, I thought this aspect of character development was nice to see for Daniel.
My question to the class is: What did you think of Moira and Daniel’s relationship?
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, family, politics, relationships
Unlike the other stories we have read throughout this class such as Time of the Doves, Nada, or Bonjour Tristesse, I found this one much more light-hearted and not as heavy as the others. Not to say there wasn’t any significance in this book, but the events that took place were not as dark as …
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Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, politics, relationships
