The History of Production of the Works of Harold Pinter
The Dreaming Child (1942)
Isak Dinesen
Prose (fiction)
English
The short story concerns a slum child, Jens, who is endowed with an extra-sensory imaginative power. Adopted by the wealthy but childless Jakob and Emilie, Jens embodies a totality of vision: he is both instinctively at home in the grand house and yet retains vivid memories of his slum origins. But it is only through Jens's death that Emilie, who before her marriage had rejected an impassioned lover, is regenerated: it is as if the spirit of the dreaming child [Jens] has passed into her and she is able to become a poetic fabulist like him.
Date of Composition: 1942 - 1942 Confidence Level
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Publishers
Penguin Press on (1995) Confidence Level
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Sources
Michael Billington's biography of Harold Pinter
Michael Billington, Harold Pinter, 2nd edn (London: Faber & Faber, 2007)
Biography
Summary of plot p.398.