Dreaming of Dead People
Rosalind Belben author Gabriel Josipovici editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:And Other Stories
Published:5th Aug '25
Should be back in stock very soon
A nuanced and raw exploration of the rich inner life and sexual awakening of a solitary woman
In the ‘middle of life’ Lavinia reviews her frustrations, her solitariness, the grief and the rapture, her seeming companions in a pageant presided over, as it were, by the masks of Owl, for winter, and Cuckoo, for erotic love. Dreaming of Dead People, first published in the 1970s, remains as surprising, frank, mordantly funny and raw as ever.
In the ‘middle of life’ – although this is only thirty-six – and with the unsparing eye of a portraitist, Lavinia reviews her frustrations and her solitariness, the grief and the rapture: these are her seeming companions in a pageant presided over, as it were, by the medieval masks of Owl, signifying winter, and Cuckoo, for erotic love. In attendance are dreams of rustic places and once-dear animals. But it is no ordinary procession, for her childhood comes last. The idiosyncratic Dreaming of Dead People was first published in 1979, yet remains as surprising as ever: it is frank, mordantly funny, true to itself and raw.
‘So extraordinarily good that one wants more, recognising a writer who can conjure an inner life and spirit, can envisage, in unconnected episodes, a complete world: one unified not by external circumstances but by patterns of the writer's mind.’ Isabel Quigly, Financial Times
‘Belben's eye for the movement and texture of the natural world is extraordinarily acute and she has a poet's ear for language . . . A confession of fulfilment, of endless curiosity for, and love of life.’ Selina Hastings Daily Telegraph
‘Her heroine is a solitary woman who tells of her past and recalls, often, the countryside, where being alone is not painful and, if there is no meaning to life, the call to the senses is immediate. The book is beautifully written.’ Hilary Bailey, The Guardian
‘Belben has written pages about sexual desire, frustration and loss which are clearer and more compelling than any I can think of in literature . . . An achievement to celebrate.’ Maggie Gee, The Observer
‘From the publisher that brought Ann Quin back into print comes another lost classic from an English visionary. Rosalind Belben's work is both terrific and disconcerting, an essential read for lovers of extraordinary fiction.’ Camilla Grudova
‘Extremely beautiful, utterly convincing, and rivals anything by Virginia Woolf.’ Melissa Harrison, The Guardian
ISBN: 9781916751316
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 189g
144 pages