Dream Story

De: Arthur Schnitzler

Narrado por: Stephen Dexter

A married couple, Fridolin and Albertine, are troubled by events and jealous of each other’s attentions the night before at a masquerade ball. Suddenly, Fridolin, a doctor, is summoned to the bedside of a dying man, an elderly councilor, whose daughter he finds attractive and vaguely sensual. So begins a series of involvements throughout the night in increasingly dangerous and deviant sexual adventures for Fridolin, who, taken by a friend to a “secret” party, is forced to make more choices that seemingly are beyond his control.

The dreamlike events are rendered more frighteningly real through Schnitzler’s powerfully detailed descriptions, as little by little Fridolin gives in to the demands of the secret celebrants. Do these represent real acts, or is the very fact that he imagines them enough to symbolize his moral decay? Schnitzler gives no answer, but Fridolin himself comes to realize that “No dream is entirely a dream”.

In this superb translation, we recognize the full force of Arthur Schnitzler’s masterwork. Dream Story, also known as Rhapsody: A Dream Novel, was written in 1925 by Schnitzler. It was first published in installments in the German magazine Die Dame, the first illustrated magazine in Germany to cater to the interests of modern women. Dream Story, first published in 1926, was adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrick called Eyes Wide Shut, starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise.

©1925; 1971 Otto P. Schinnerer. First published in German as Traumnovelle in 1926. Translation © 1999 by J. M. Q. Davies (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

The narrator

Loved the story and how he told it. Very interesting and entertaining. Well done and enthusiastic reading. Good nice enthralling

Fascinating

As a Kubrick fan I loved diving into the source material for Eyes Wide Shut, a book he’d wanted to adapt for decades. Love the descriptions of the private thoughts of an average married man having fits of jealousy along with consciously hypocritical attempts at infidelity. Funny and psychologically stimulating, it stands on its own, and taking note of the changes Kubrick made gives some illumination to his most mysterious film.

A great hear.

Truly enjoyed the audio. The reader definitely portrayed the scenes well his tone. Very easy to follow and enjoy.

wowza

this doc can write! the mystique of EWS is intoxicating and it’s mother source hold ups it’s end. reader could have been 5 stars but the random accents were atrocious.

Good story, bad narration

I picked this up because I love the movie Eyes Wide Shut. The story was good, but I personally feel that this a rare example where the movie was better. Perhaps if someone with better voicing skills and maybe even a pleasant German accent then this story really would have been brought to life. All in all though, I liked it