Daughter! I Forbid Your Recurring Dream!

by James Chapman

Fiction. "Frieda, the narrator and eponymous "daughter," opens the novel, speaking as a fetus from an Edenic state of unbounded freedom and perception in which she can "create anything"...philosophical brilliance and surreal humor in Chapman's prose amply reward the reader's attention"--Publishers Weekly. "As we trip through Frieda's life and her forays into art, love, politics, self-actualization, and self-destruction, thematic justice seems to be among the least of Chapman's concerns. It is Chapman's ongoing experiment in his fiction--his exploration of the serious limitations on our ability to communicate in a largely inarticulate culture that has become increasingly obsessed with violence, veneer, and volume--that weighs most heavily"--Review of Contemporary Fiction.

217 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have this book in my hands right now, i'm trying to come up with a way to review it, rate it or even just summarize it. i don't think i can, and that's a shame because no one else on here has either and i really want everyone who looks at it to pick it up. the story is so abstract but still very easy to connect to. it's structure and language is so beautiful that i can hardly read the things on the page sometimes. the emotion is deafening.

[Carah Naseem · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a tragedy. James Chapman's fluids of emotion are highly transmittable, and highly contagious. He sinks neatly into Frieda, protagonist of eternal strife, and narrates floatingly through the tribulations of a human life.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply one of the five greatest contributions to American Literature in the last 50 years. Without a doubt to be a classic of world Literature if we live long enough to wise up to Chapman's work. You will never see a male author carry femininity in prose so strongly without seeming to affect some femininity for relevancy nor does it plod into unsavory ruminating. You really get one of these writers once every few generations if your nation really deserves it and to say that Pynchon and Chapman are still alive in America is a testament to the resilience of the novel form here. Find a copy by any means necessary. Classes will be taught on this. Young women will grow up with this novel and young men will mature in its presence and oh such a warm and lovely gift it is to a seemingly cold and cruel world.