The Last Dream
Pedro Almodóvar author Frank Wynne translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Publishing:26th Sep '24
£16.99
This title is due to be published on 26th September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
![The Last Dream cover](https://cdn.theportobellobookshop.com/img/9781787304352.jpg)
A mischievous and genre-spanning story collection from legendary film director Pedro Almodóvar
'Almodóvar’s mind seems to be reporting from another world to illuminate, clarify, and challenge our own’
KAVEH AKBAR
'Akin to a Spanish Angela Carter'
TELEGRAPH
The Last Dream brings together for the first time twelve unpublished stories from Almodóvar’s personal archive, written between the late sixties and the present day. Delivering a tantalising glimpse into Almodóvar’s world, this wildly inventive collection reflects his most intimate obsessions, as well as his daring evolution as an artist.
Ranging from ‘The Last Dream’ - a beautiful chronicle of the death of Almodóvar’s mother - to a love story between Jesus and Barabbas;, a cult film director out in search of painkillers on a bank holiday weekend, the original story behind the film Bad Education, and a gothic tale of a repentant vampire, these stories delight and surprise.
The Last Dream is a celebration of the relationship between life and art, fiction and reality from an artist unafraid to write about our most intimate moments. It explores desire, mortality and the pain and glory of artistic creation, laced with playful humour and a deep love of literature and culture.
Translated by Frank Wynne
*Readers love THE LAST DREAM*
‘Dive into a world where vibrant characters and deep emotions come to life on the page’
‘An intriguing blend of the personal, thoughts, his remarkable professional film career and more from the superb Pedro Almodóvar'
‘Colourful characters and situations, a little madness. Warmth, humour and strangeness'
‘Highly recommended’
‘Almodóvar could literally write a dictionary and I’d still give it 5 stars’
The veteran Spanish film-maker’s first short story collection [is]… bracing, the book serving as an outlet for something Almodóvar can’t express from behind a camera…The Last Dream has its pleasures – some of them lurid, some ratherpoignant * Observer *
'The Life and Death of Miguel'...could have been written by Roberto Bolaño at his height... It’s fascinating that in fiction Almodóvar prefers to inhabit [a] historical and often fantastical universe. To judge by The Last Dream, he’s akin to a Spanish Angela Carter, or a cousin to the undersung Argentinian genius Silvina Ocampo. What his films and stories have in common is a vivid melodrama; a preoccupation with motherhood, outsiders and religion -- Camilla Grudova * Telegraph *
It’s no surprise that Pedro Almodóvar’s The Last Dream is instantly fascinating, brimming with twisting narratives and unforgettable endings—Almodóvar has given us three decades of such stories on the big screen. What’s more surprising, what’s actually thrilling, is witnessing this major artist fully flourish in a totally new medium. The characters feel as vivid and complex as anyone I might call to talk about them. Their resentments fester and erupt. They orbit - clumsily, hilariously, tragically - epiphanic moments of emotional and psychosexual clarity. There’s a Borgesian uncanny braided throughout - like Borges, Almodóvar’s mind seems to be reporting from another world to illuminate, clarify, and challenge our own. This is not auxiliary fiction from a film director; The Last Dream stands alone as a major literary talent’s virtuosic debut * Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of Martyr! *
The stories in The Last Dream are like a kaleidoscope that reflects to you only the finest, most unexpected moments. The delicious blend of truth and fiction drops you intimately, with raw honesty, inside Almodóvar’s heart. I love this book! * Miguel Arteta, director of Beatriz At Dinner *
The Last Dream is an inspiring testament to one of cinema’s great creative forces. These stories/ allegories/ dreams/ philosophical riffs and intense personal sketches shimmer with all of the vibrance, humour, provocation and humanity of Almodóvar’s entire body of work. A true delight * Sam Lypsyte, author of the New York Times bestseller The Ask *
ISBN: 9781787304352
Dimensions: 223mm x 142mm x 23mm
Weight: 351g
240 pages