Marek Nocny

Controller of Dreams

Excerpt

"Controller of Dreams" is a subversive adventure story. Its author is hiding behind a pseudonym, but the hand of a master can be detected here—Marek Nocny’s attractively written book, aimed primarily at teenage readers, is a story about love and violence. It draws on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, retold in the age of cyberculture: something like a Polish "Matrix" with anti-globalization elements. The hero, a physics student who goes by the name of Rastaman—a rebel but also a fantasist, a superman and a weakling—descends into Hades in search of Agnieszka, his Eurydice—except that the Hades of today is a modern shopping mall, temple of contemporary culture, place of temptation and the enactment of symbolic violence. It is here that the “True Life” corporation has secretly installed itself. The corporation’s goal is to control human minds by selling us what are supposedly our own dreams. It operates ruthlessly. Our hero wages a life-and-death struggle with its executives. "Controller of Dreams" is also a literary game. There are references to Calderón de la Barca and his "Life is a Dream": Marek Nocny’s heroes experiment with dreams, but in fact they are manipulated by the corporation; nevertheless, they manage to find ways to win back their freedom. For in this novel dreams are also an ocean of the unconscious that, like the sea in Lem’s "Solaris", evokes thoughts and desires.
"Controller of Dreams" is more than just an enjoyable read. It can be read in different sequences and is an excellent example of postmodern literature. Reality and fiction turn out to be indistinguishable; we are constantly dealing with the spinning identities of the main character. Experiments with dreams, chases, escapes, crime stories, literary allusions, the ups and downs of the hero’s love life, humor, deeper meanings—all this makes "Controller of Dreams" a book that is not just entertaining but deeply engaging.

- Marek Zaleski

Marek Nocny was born in the second half of the 20th century. He works as a writer, though he writes about something else and is well-known under a different name. He resides permanently in Poland. He has a dog.