My Father's Dreams - Softcover

Evald Flisar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908236221 ISBN 13: 9781908236227

Publisher: Istros Books, 2015

Synopsis

My Father's Dreams: A Tale of Innocence Abused, is a controversial and shocking novel by Slovenia's bestselling author Evald Flisar, and is regarded by many critics as his best. The book tells the story of fourteen-year-old Adam, the only son of a village doctor and his quiet wife, living in apparent rural harmony. But this is a topsy-turvy world of illusions and hopes, in which the author plays with the function of dreaming and story-telling to present the reader with an eccentric 'bildungsroman' in reverse. Spiced with unusual and original overtones of the grotesque, the history of an insidious deception is revealed, in which the unsuspecting son and his mother will be the apparent victims; and yet who can tell whether the gruesome end is reality or just another dream - This is a novel that can be read as an off-beat crime story, a psychological horror tale, a dream-like morality fable, or as a dark and ironic account of one man's belief that his personality and his actions are two different things. It can also be read as a story about a boy who has been robbed of his childhood in the cruelest way. It is a book which has the force of myth: revealing the fundamentals without drawing any particular attention to them; an investigation into good and evil, and our inclination to be drawn to the latter.

About this title

Review:

'Evald Flisar, Slovene man of letters extraordinaire, undertakes fearless forays into the bizarre ways in which the mind works. My Father's Dreams, a deadpan, slow-burning cautionary tale, requires patience yet ultimately delivers. His narrator is the bewildered only surviving son of a village doctor. It is a book about how a child is influenced and undermined and betrayed...How Philip Larkin would have endorsed this novel.' (Eileen Battersby, Irish Times) --Irish Times

'For a small country, Slovenia boasts some giants: Evald Flisar is prolific and often shocking. In his novel My Father's Dreams (Istros Books; trans. Flisar and Alan McConnell-Duff, £9.99), the father, Joseph, is a village GP with a secret cellar to conduct his "research". He and his wife Mary argue over the upbringing of their adolescent son Adam who has bizarre dreams and lusts after a teenage drug-addict Eve (the names!), though we are never sure if events are dreams or reality. A nightmare read but with fantastic flair and insight into the psyche and the grotesque.' (Rosie Goldsmith, The Independent) --The Independent

About the Author:

EVALD FLISAR (1945, Slovenia). Novelist, playwright, essayist, editor, globe-trotter (travelled in more than 90 countries), underground train driver in Sydney, editor of (among other publications) an encyclopaedia of science and invention in London, author of short stories and radio plays for the BBC, president (1995 - 2002) of the Slovene Writers' Association, since 1998 editor of the oldest Slovenian literary journal Sodobnost (Contemporary Review). Author of eleven novels (eight nominated for Kresnik, the Slovenian Booker), two collections of short stories, three travelogues (regarded as the best in Slovenian travel writing), two books for children (both nominated for awards) and fifteen stage plays (seven nominated for Best Play of the Year Award, three times won the award). Winner of the Preseren Foundation Prize, the highest state award for prose and drama, the prestigious Zupancic Award for lifetime achievement, three awards for Best Radio Play, etc. Various works translated into 33 languages. His stage plays are regularly performed all over the world, most recently in Austria, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Belarus. Attended more than 50 literary readings and festivals on all continents. Lived abroad for 20 years (three years in Australia, 17 years in London). Since 1990, resident in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Istros Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1908236221
• ISBN 13: 9781908236227
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200