'The Palace of Dreams' by Ismail Kadare is a psychological novel set in an oppressive country, blending elements of Ottoman empirical rule with modern-day Communist rule. The story follows Mark Alem, a member of the Quprili family, as he takes a job in the mysterious and foreboding Palace of Dreams, where dreams from all over the empire are collected and analyzed to find the elusive master dream that could impact political rule. The novel delves into the surreal world of dream interpretation, bureaucratic mazes, and the intricate workings of a monolithic police state, drawing parallels to real historical and political contexts. Kadare's writing style is described as sombre, dark, and melancholic, reminiscent of Eastern European literature, with a tone that captivates readers and immerses them in a world filled with secrecy, fear, and power struggles.
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Content warnings include political violence, state-sanctioned persecution, existential dread, and themes of paranoia.
From The Publisher:
The mysterious palace of dreams stands at the heart of a vast empire. Inside, workers sift, sort, and interpret the dreams the empire's citizens. They search out Master-Dreams that will provide clues to the destiny of the empire and its Sultan.
Mark-Alem, scion of a noble family that has provided viziers to the Sultan from time immemorial, and whose power the Sultan distrusts, is recruited into the palace of Creams at the humblest level. He immediately feels the terrible pressure that drives his coworkers, the dread of overlooking a crucial dream whose capture and interpretation might avert political disaster.
But he rapidly rises through the hierarchyonly barely finding his bearings in one section of the Palace's labyrinthine passages that represent the entire empire's consciousness laid bare before he is promoted to another. And the pressure only increases as he becomes familiar with the fates of subversive dreamers and personally responsible for the sort of dreams that might ruin an entire family. A family like his own.
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About the Author:
Ismail Kadare is the winner of the inaugural Man Booker International Prize, and is Albania's best-known poet and novelist. He is acclaimed worldwide as one of the most important writers of our time. Translations of his novels have been published in more than forty countries. He divides his time between Paris, France, and Tirana, Albania.
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