A Dream of Wessex

by Christopher Priest

Paperback, 1978

Status

Available

Call number

823.9

Collection

Publication

Pan Books (1978), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 224 pages

Description

Christopher Priest's artful sleight of hand when it comes to manipulating the experience of his books and notions of what is real reaches a peak in this novel that accounts the trials and tribulations of a group of people who have escaped into a utopian shared virtual reality known as Wessex. It is a world engineered to give them their every desire. But when one woman becomes subject to the violent attentions of a man who feels that she is everything he desires she must decide to fight back. Obsession and abuse of power can cross from the real world to the imagined all too easily. Thought by some to have been instrumental in the inspiration of the film INCEPTION, A DREAM OF WESSEX is a classic in the literature of virtual realities and remains one of Chris Priest's most highly regarded novels. Christopher Priest is a genre-leading author of SFF fiction. His novel, THE PRESTIGE, won a number of awards and was adapted into a critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film directed by Christopher Nolan (TENET, INCEPTION) starring Hugh Jackman (THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, X-MEN), Christian Bale (THE BIG SHORT, BATMAN BEGINS), Michael Caine (THE ITALIAN JOB) and Scarlett Johansson (MARRIAGE STORY, THE AVENGERS).… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member craso
This is another "questioning reality" story from Christopher Priest. A group of scientists create a device that projects a person’s consciousness into a future reality. It's meant to be a social experiment that will some how help people in the present. The future world was agreed upon before hand
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by each of the subjects. One of the scientists, David, has been stuck in the projection for two years. For him it has become his reality. Julia, also a member of the project finds David and they fall in love. Julia’s ex-lover Paul barges into the experiment and adds his consciousness with dire consequences.

The book was a quick read and more conventional than The Inverted World. A good read, but less complicated than the other works I have read by Priest.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
David and Julia meet, fall in love and live in paradise (in the year 2137). But in reality their bodies are contained in morguelike drawers in the Ridpath Project in the year 1985. They and other dreamers are trying to construct a future that might save the present. Very interesting premise.

Awards

Ditmar Award (Winner — 1978)

Original publication date

1977

Physical description

224 p.; 6.9 inches

ISBN

0330255436 / 9780330255431
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