--And dreams are dreams

by Vasilēs Vasilikos

In the first new book by Vassilis Vassilikos to be translated into English in thirty years, Greece's most acclaimed living novelist gives us a magical realist portrait of contemporary Europe and contemporary Europeans. Here are seven tales that explore the themes of materialism, post Cold War politics, love, religious faith, and the power of imagination. In the tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Luigi Pirandello, Vassilikos writes of the fantasies within reality, the spirit in existence, and the art within life. In the title story, the narrator edits a newspaper of dreams—a newspaper which transforms the hidden hopes and desires of his fellow countrymen into a living "dreamocracy." The "stories of taxi drivers" vividly shows these livid dreams: love is powerful enough to make a tiger change species and a woman churn out dollar bills like a slot machine. "Dona Rosita and Don Pacifico" and "three miraculous moments lived by Dona Rosita" testify to the regenerative powers of religiou