The Society Of Reluctant Dreamers

Images above/below kindly provided by the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Dreaming.  I have a dream, Martin Luther King.  Below are just a few paragraphs of this great man’s dream (for the full text and audio see https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm)

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.  It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

There is also the hymn ‘I have a dream’ to the tune Repton in CH4 710 see https://hymnary.org/hymn/CH4/710

There are also songs for instance ‘I dreamed a dream’.  With that, Susan Boyle wowed the USA

See… https://www.smoothradio.com/features/the-story-of/i-dreamed-a-dream-lyrics-meaning-susan-boyle/

But today I am looking at a book. One written by Jose Eduardo Agualusa.  “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”.

Jose today (Friday 23rd August 2019)  is the Angolan star for The Society of Reluctant Dreamers, spoke about his surreal new novel which asks what understanding dreams could do for our waking lives.

Part of the text is written in the first tense and strange as it may seem that is what I tend to do.

Dan the Chair of the meeting asked Jose to open the talk.   He started by reading part of his book in Portuguese.   A short extract and the words that I could discern were few.   Just the names of the key character and his job.  Surprisingly just the words, Daniel and Journalist.

Then, thankfully Daniel Hahn (his interpreter) read the same text in English.   I must admit I do prefer Scottish but the E word is close enough.  The first bit is about Daniel. As you can see amusingly there are two Dans on stage supporting Jose.

This next bit is a teaser from the cover of the book.

“While swimming in the waters of the Rainbow Hotel Daniel Benchimel finds a Waterproof camera, floating seemingly lost in the sea.

He goes on to discover that the camera belongs to Moira, a Mozambican artist famous for a series of photos depicting her own dreams.

On seeing the images Daniel realises that Moira is also the mysterious woman whom he has been dreaming about repeatedly.

The two meet, and Daniel becomes involved in an unusual dream experiment with a Brazilian neuroscientist, who’s working with Moira to film and photograph people’s dreams’

Thinking aloud here but that could conjure up some bizarre images, film and photography.

I now move on to the second reading which will have my observations with interruptions based on two couples.  The interruptions will be bold italics and therefore will not refer to the content of the book

That is in the packed Baillie Gifford theatre, there are two couples. One couple sitting in the back row and the other in the middle row.  I am at the back and I can hardly miss the couple in front.  They sit in the middle row as I look onto the platform.  However,  the couple on the back row were affectionate to each other. Their fingers gently caressing each other’s face and neck.

It is good to see such a gentle display of affection of another human being one to another.  Now onto the story in Jose’s book.

Part of chapter 16

The text,  a letter dated Sunday 17th July 2016

I wake up and say my name out aloud:

‘My name is Apolonio Kalley. I am the son of Pedro Kaley and Mario Joao Epalanga.’

Then I recall the names of my poor children and wife.  I try to remember all my cousins’ names.  There are twenty-two of them and I can’t always do it.  Only then do I get up.  I live in terror of one day waking up and not knowing who I am.  Imagine,  any old guy, he imagined he’s had his eyes ripped out’

The red-headed lady in the middle row looked concerned her eyes stirred protectively to her lover.  She gently massaged the back of his neck.

We’re going to give him a name and an occupation, to make things easier.  For example: Sebastido Eusebio, farmer, though he’s now blind.   Some people have ripped his eyes out, could be a knife, could be a tea spoon, the guy’s still Sebastiao Eusebio, farmer though he’s now blind

The lady had a concerned countenance.   Eyes concentrated, you could feel the burning concern.  She fingered and massaged the back of his neck.  Her fingers gliding over his skin moving to both sides of his face.  A measure to intercept any arrows of the past.  A measure to relax and put her lover at ease.

The text in the book continues, various parts of the body are mutilated but he still is Sebastio Eusebio, a farmer though he’s minus another or many other parts of his body.

During each bit of the reading, the lover gently intervenes, applying a massage of intervention to the man in the middle row.

I am skipping a lot of the text here and moving on…

‘… Let’s try ripping out not parts of his body, which is easy enough’

The young man on the back row was just lovingly applying his fingers gently to the lady he loved.

‘….  You just need a firm hand, some practice and a  certain alienation of the spirit.   We’re going to be tearing out his memories.

I could see the sharpness of the ladies eyes in the middle row and her fingers started the massage again.

‘First we’re going to rip out the image of his mother pounding corn with other women, while they sing;  Then the happy memory of playing with his siblings and sugar cane in the field…”

‘This man who has never been a boy, is this man still Sebastido?’

The red-headed lady is busy,  one could nearly see the tears in her heart, she massages her lover’s neck, his face and gently massages his neck again.

On the back row.  The young man is giving the young lady a gentle massage and she smiles with every gentle touch.

In the middle row, the man, his neck vibrates for what appears to be a while. To the rescue, a healing massage, fingers on the neck.  They glide across his face as if a healing fairy.  A woman, to the rescue.  To protect her lover from his pain.  The neck vibrations and her healing fingers stop.  The storm has passed.

if you wish to read more of the book you can buy the book “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” by Jose Eduardo Agualusa online you can do so here.  We receive no commission nor affiliate income in using this link to Amazon.

 

 

Saturday at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

 Selection of Highlights for Tomorrow: Saturday 24 August

Photo of the Late Toni Morrison courtesy of Angela Radulescu [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

NEW EVENT:  Beloved:  A Tribute to Toni Morrison 8.30pm

Scots Makar Jackie Kay leads this special memorial event marking the life and work of a true modern literary legend, alongside writers Nafissa Thompson-Spires and Nesrine Malik, editor Margaret Busby, as well as publishers Clara Farmer and Lennie Goodings, each of whom have been moved, inspired and influenced by Morrison’s oeuvre in different ways. Join us in a warm, celebratory event paying tribute to Morrison with readings from her across her astonishing career, audio from her Book Festival appearance in 2004, and more.

John Lanchester 10.15am

How close is our society to dystopia? One of Britain’s most eloquent authors comes to the Book Festival to offer some imaginative clues. John Lanchester slides effortlessly between novels and non-fiction, but his latest book The Wall (longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize) is a science-fiction fable offering a chilling picture of a possible future. It depicts a country where everyone must take their turn as a Defender patrolling the Wall, which protects Britain from the Others, throwing up questions of duty, morality and what kind of a society we want for ourselves.

Pete Etchells 12.15pm

According to some people, video games are a threat to both our physical and mental health. Psychology lecturer and video games researcher Pete Etchells does not hold that view. Instead, he believes they can be of great benefit to individuals and, in his own case, had a positive effect in helping him grieve after the death of his father. 

Women Talking by Miriam Toews 6.00pm

‘Brave’, ‘scorching’, are words used about Miriam Toews’s unforgettable story of oppression and resistance in a Bolivian Mennonite community, Women Talking. We’ve partnered with Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre and playwright Linda McLean to produce a theatrical response to this classic of feminist fiction. After the 45-minute performance, the creative team is joined on stage by Toews herself for a discussion about the ideas in the book. 

In partnership with the Toronto International Festival of Authors and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Council. 

Goenawan Mohamed 6.30pm

Goenawan Mohamad is a legend in Indonesia. A poet, essayist, playwright and editor, his decades of work amount to an incredible body of fiction and non-fiction. A champion of creative independence and journalistic freedom, he was among the writers and intellectuals who signed the 1963 Cultural Manifesto and is now a dissenting voice on social media. It is an honour to welcome him to the Book Festival to discuss his life and work.

Mathias Énard with Ece Temelkuran 7.00pm

Already recognised as one of France’s foremost authors, Mathias Énard came to worldwide attention when his masterpiece Compass was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. Described as ‘one of the finest European novels in recent memory’, it is a sumptuous meditation on the West’s idea of the East. Today, Énard discusses Compassand his time spent living in the Middle East with Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran.

Lemn Sissay 8.45pm

One of Britain’s best loved poets, Lemn Sissay is a performer of rare passion. But growing up with foster families and in care homes, Sissay struggled with his identity. The discovery of his birth name and Ethiopian background is the catalyst for reflection in My Name is Why. Today, he meditates on home and identity as he presents his insightful memoir, exuding the creative energy that’s made him a literary phenomenon. 

Changes to the Printed Programme:

2.00pm  China:  The Land That Failed to Fail – Steven Erlanger will now participate in this event.

7.30pm Radical Economics:  The Fifth Industrial Revolution.  Mariana Mazzucato has cancelled.  Christine Borley & Diane Coyle will now participate in this event.

8.30pm  Zawe Ashton – Zawe Ashton has cancelled

8.30pm  NEW EVENT – Beloved:  A Tribute to Toni Morrison        

“I think I’m a better writer for not being angry” – Raja Shehadeh at Book Fest

Raja Shehadeh author reading at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Yesterday at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIDF):
Image of Raja Courtesy of EIDF

“I think I’m a better writer for not being angry,” said Raja Shehadeh, speaking yesterday at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with playwright David Greig.  The lawyer and writer was speaking about his memoir Going Home:   A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation and his home in the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

“Anger can be distracting,” Shehadeh said.   “And since I am not distracted I can see things more.”

“If I become angry then I lose the point, I’m not convincing because I’m lost in my anger. If I’m not angry and able to be rational and explain things in a less angry way then I’m much more effective.  So I think many Palestinians who try to speak about their conditions lose their audience by becoming angry and lost in their anger and I did that for a long time, of course and I was very angry. But I think being less angry is much more effective and it allows you to see more and feel more, rather than to be involved in your own anger… which leads to nothing really.”

Gaza Strip Palestine

Shehadeh also spoke of his understanding of home as a Palestinian living in the West Bank;  “I often feel a stranger in my own city. But I try to not be lamenting of this and to see the positive aspects.

“It’s not imperative that you only love what you possess…  I can be at home by having peace with myself and even if the physical home that I have was destroyed I would still feel at home.

“If you feel at home you have a relationship and peace in yourself not necessarily attached to a concrete place.”

A possible end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was discussed, with Shehadeh expressing more hope in young people.

Photo Feature: Saturday Sun shines on the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Edinburgh International Book Show 2019 front entrance

Saturday photo feature

Crowds Galore attend the Book Festival despite a bit of rain.   It was if the sun was justing shining on Charlotte Square all day.

Here you can see a young lady rushing to see join the queue

Children's event's Caterpillar
Children’s event Caterpillar Man

 

 

 

Red umbrellas in the garden area provide shelter from the sun and rain.  Lots of book stores, two cafes and many rooms to hear the entertaining authors.