The text The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa is set after Angolia’s independence, which also reflects government structures and changes in that structure. The novel’s narrator, Benchimol, recently got a divorce and thus goes to a resort or hotel to be able to rest and recuperate. He’s also a journalist whole tends to have odd dreams about people that he has either met or never met before. That’s what I found interesting about the novel, the dreams that this character has. Such as when the narrator states; “You know, I dreamed about you,” even though he had never met the character that he is speaking to (Agualusa, The Society of Reluctant Dreamers). I’ve felt moments of deja-vu when it comes to dreams on occasion, that I have felt like this situation has occurred before, though, usually the case is that I might’ve had a similar dream regarding that moment. I somewhat related to the novel when it came to the similarities between dreams and reality. Though what I had also found odd was that the person that the narrator was speaking to, Hossi Apolónio Kaley, follows along with what the narrator has stated. Validating the claim of the narrator that they have met in a dream, and are now meeting in reality. He states that “It’s been a while since people dreamed about me,” and then proceeds to add on that he has appeared in people’s dreams before (Agualusa, The Society of Reluctant Dreamers). That moment in the novel made me doubt the notion of dreams in the novel. It could very well be possible that the dreams that the narrator is discussing are related to moments of Deja Vu as opposed to seeing people that the narrator has never met before. Therefore, I do not know whether this moment reflects dreams or a moment of Deja Vu where the narrator has the same or similar feelings, people, and location in the present day. 

I have mentioned in other blog posts how authors and by their extension narrators, are able to create a dream world. There is a moment in the novel where someone comments that there should be a “Republic of Dreamers,” as though dreamers are their own group of people (Agualusa, The Society of Reluctant Dreamers). The part of the quote that states that dreamers should be a “Republic,” goes to show the vast quantity of people who consider themselves and are “Dreamers,” (Agualusa, The Society of Reluctant Dreamers). The fact that I was able to find a connection between old blog posts and this one is interesting to me. 

A question that I would ask my classmates is; what other connections do you see between this book and other texts that we’ve read in class?