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A wildly inventive story collection from legendary film director Pedro Almod var

The Last Dreambrings together for the first time twelve unpublished stories from Almod var's personal archive, written between the late sixties and the present day. Both a tantalising glimpse into Almod var's creative mind and a masterclass in how to tell a story, this intimate and mischievous collection reflects Almod var's obsessions and many of the themes of his cinematic work, spanning genres from autofiction to comedy, parody, pastiche and gothic. The title story, 'The Last Dream', is a beautiful chronicle of the death of Almod var's mother, and other stories include- a love story between Jesus and Barabbas; a cult film director out in search of painkillers on a bank holiday weekend; the primary version of the film Bad Education; and a gothic tale of a repentant vampire among monks.

In his introduction, Almod var writes- 'I've been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I've always refused; it's also been suggested that I let someone else write my biography, but I have always felt somewhat resistant to the idea of a book entirely about me as an individual. I've never kept a diary, and whenever I've tried, I've never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little cryptic.'

A celebration of the relationship between life and art, fiction and reality from an artist unafraid to write about our most intimate moments, these stories explore desire, mortality, loneliness and the pain and glory of artistic creation, laced with playful humour and a deep love of literature and culture.

Translated by Frank Wynne
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FICTION & POETRY
FICTION

pre-order available

Pages:

224

Published:

24 Sept 2024

Format

Hardback

Publisher

Penguin Random House

Imprint

Harvill Secker

ISBN:

9781787304352

A wildly inventive story collection from legendary film director Pedro Almod var

The Last Dreambrings together for the first time twelve unpublished stories from Almod var's personal archive, written between the late sixties and the present day. Both a tantalising glimpse into Almod var's creative mind and a masterclass in how to tell a story, this intimate and mischievous collection reflects Almod var's obsessions and many of the themes of his cinematic work, spanning genres from autofiction to comedy, parody, pastiche and gothic. The title story, 'The Last Dream', is a beautiful chronicle of the death of Almod var's mother, and other stories include- a love story between Jesus and Barabbas; a cult film director out in search of painkillers on a bank holiday weekend; the primary version of the film Bad Education; and a gothic tale of a repentant vampire among monks.

In his introduction, Almod var writes- 'I've been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I've always refused; it's also been suggested that I let someone else write my biography, but I have always felt somewhat resistant to the idea of a book entirely about me as an individual. I've never kept a diary, and whenever I've tried, I've never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little cryptic.'

A celebration of the relationship between life and art, fiction and reality from an artist unafraid to write about our most intimate moments, these stories explore desire, mortality, loneliness and the pain and glory of artistic creation, laced with playful humour and a deep love of literature and culture.

Translated by Frank Wynne
$38.00