The Republic of Dreams: A Reverie

by G. Garfield Crimmins

Book Overview

An illustrated tour de force and surreal dream-come-true for all those who love art, passion, fine wine, and "Griffin and Sabine". Full color.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393046338
• ISBN13: 9780393046335
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Woderful Surreal Art-Novel

I found this book on a remainder table and bought it on a lark. Boy am I glad I did! If you've ever been captivated by surrealist art you have to get this book. It will give you a whole new philosophy of life based on freedom, poetry and irrationality. Better than any of the Griffin/Sabine books. Buy it. Read it. Discover the treasures hidden within your irrational life.

Not Greenwich Village, This is an Island

Not to be confused with the book about Greenwich Village, this marvelous book is about an island republic. Hard to describe in words -- I recommend you take the trip.

A very creative concept

The Republic of Dreams left me wondering about the nature of identities and illusion, which I spend a great deal of my life analyzing anyway. The creative twists in the story crystallize just a tendril prematurely, however, isn't that how the real world works? Anyway, since the author actively engages his true self in the presence of the story, the reader is swept in, or more accurately, immersed in the legendary place and the events that stream forth in the story. If you are a fan of the old Muppet Story opening song by Kermit-the-Frog, then this verse will be familiar to you and it will sing to you from the pages in this book... Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me.

This was an experience that was wonderous

I was signing my daughter up for French lessons at the Alliance Francaise in New York and encounntered The Republic of Dreams,A Reverie in an exhibition at the Alliance titled la Republique de Reves. The show consited of paintings, sculptures, documents and a wide range of paraphernalia, simular to the book which was the genisis of the exhibition. The show and the book is a Lewis Caroll's Wonderland cranked up from a conceptional dadaist-surrealist fantasty to a material three-dimensional one. There was the orginal art that was in the book and more then enough material for a sequal which I look foreward to. I was knocked out by the the book and the exhibition. I am now a citizen, I have a passport which I found tucked into a pocket in the front of the book. In the book I found a lot more surprizes and treasures. The book was a delight, and it made me smile. I had good dreams that night.

Absorbing

"The Republic of Dreams" is like "Griffin and Sabine" in that it uses its illustrations and toys to bring you closer into the narrative. "The Republic of Dreams" has everything you could hope for in this type of novel. The sensuous narrative, surreal, subtly erotic illustration, and pull-out items such as the Poetic Licence and Republic Passport all make you feel as if you have taken a journey into this Republic. Unlike many Bantock and neo-Bantock works, "The Republic of Dreams" explores its ideas in depth. A wonderful mind-clearing diversion, especially useful for the poet and artist. Go, Crimmins, go.