Υπάρχουν όνειρα

by Vassilis Vassilikos, Βασίλης Βασιλικός

"...Τα όνειρα είναι μια ουσία ζωής, η πρώτη που σε κρατά σε εγρήγορση στην άθλια ύπαρξή σου και βιάζεσαι να τρέξεις, να ξεχαστείς, σε μια ονειρική ταινία ή σε ένα βιβλίο με όνειρα ή στον έρωτα, όπου τα όνειρα που πλάθουν οι εραστές είναι τόσο συχνά τ' αντίθετο απ' την πραγματικότητα που ζούνε· και βγαίνουν ξανανιωμένοι απ' τον έρωτα, γιατί μπόρεσαν να ονειρευτούν, κι όσα τους προσγειώνουν στη ζωή, η καρτέλα, το νοίκι, η αρρώστια, η γκρίνια, τα μισούν και ζουν σε όνειρα ταξιδιών, σε διακοπές ονείρων, σ' ονειρικές καταστάσεις συμβίωσης ή πηγαίνουν να ξεδώσουν σ' ένα όνειρο γηπέδου ή σε καμιά ονειρική εκκλησία (...)".

Genres: Greece, Fiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Vassilis Vassilikos (Greek: Βασίλης Βασιλικός) was a prolific Greek writer and diplomat. A native of the northern Greek island of Thassos, Vassilikos grew up in Salonika, graduating from law school there before moving to Athens to work as a journalist. Due to his political activities, he was forced into exile following the 1967 military coup, where he spent the next seven years.

Between 1981 and 1984 Vassilikos served as general manager of the Greek state television channel ET1. Since 1996, he has served as Greece's ambassador to UNESCO.

As an author, Vassilikos has been highly prolific and widely-translated. He has published more than 100 books, including novels, plays and poetry. His best known work is the political novel Z (1967) (English language ISBN 0-394-72990-0 or ISBN 0-941423-50-6), which has been translated into thirty-two languages and was the basis of the award-winning film Z directed by Costa-Gavras (with music by Mikis Theodorakis).

In 2008, Vassilikos was among to 41 other personalities of Greece that condemned the action of the withdrawal of Ersi Sotiropoulos's book Zigzag Through the Bitter-Orange Trees from the Greek school libraries, after the appeal of insurance measures by Konstantinos Plevris against to the Ministry of National Education of Greece for this issue. In 2001, Petros Tatoulis had asked the withdrawal of this specific book and he characterized this as pornographic due to the provocative sexual scenes that it contains

Reviews

[Lex Poot · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story collection is of to a strong start. First story is all about dreams. Alas second story doesn't seem to fit in the collection. It started on board of a yacht but diverted into a history of ships bought by the Greek government. I think it should have been left out. Remaining stories are much better culminating in the final (semi)autobiographical story I assume. Overall a good read if you skip the 2nd story.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is just too Literature™️ for me. The magical realism in the first section is interesting but it completely lost me after that.