Dingus Dreaming [Paperback]

Alex A. Vardamis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

Dingus Dreaming is a seminal work on canine literacy. During the formative, house-training phase of his life, Dingus suffers a blow to the head from the New York Times. Suddenly transformed from lowly mongrel to literate canine, Dingus struggles Candide-like to understand the nature of good and evil and learns what it means to be a dog - with a weak spot for Steinbeck.

Written with an inspired ear for the satiric, Dingus Dreaming marries literature with farce. Pleasing, though never facile, this book asks the reader what it means to be a reader and what it is to participate in literature. There is simply no way to appreciate the buoyant and charming Dingus than to do as he does: chew through the book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Great. Sheer fun with philosophical overtones. Sprinkled with literary allusions, this story romps through dogdom with panache." -- Valley Reporter, July 15, 2004 (Waitsfield,VT)

"Literary proof at last that Carmel is going to the dogs." -- Robert Irvine, author of the Moroni Traveler series

A witty literary tour-de-force full of wry wit. A pure delight. -- Margot Nichols, Carmel Pine Cone, Nov. 14, 2003

Carmel, California has another literate citizen. The book is part Terhune, part Voltaire, and part Jonathan Swift. It's irresistible. -- Edwin Cranston, Professor of Japanese Literature, Harvard University

Sniff out a deep meaning or just sit back and howl. You won't be barking up the wrong tree. -- Bob Walch, Monterey (CA) County Herald, Jan 4, 2004

About the Author

Born in Bangor, Maine, Alex Vardamis is a renowned Robinson Jeffers scholar and is the president of the Tor House foundation. A former English professor, the author currently resides in Carmel,California

Product Details

• Paperback: 119 pages
• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Company (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887395325
• ISBN-13: 978-0887395321
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,285,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alex, You Have No Mercy!!, June 1, 2004

By 

Cedric J Zabriskie (Curtis, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dingus Dreaming (Paperback)

What a great book. It is masterfully done and the author not only shows an understanding of the best writers or our time, but also relates it all in the world of "Dingus the Dreamer". I was captivated by the story and the way Al was able to relate each of the works of the authors represented by members of the canine world. Breeds even match. Al, you drove me to the dictionary constantly. My recommendation is "READ THIS BOOK" as Alex Vardamis has no mercy. Al, if my English is poor, consider the background!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dingus Delights, April 30, 2004

By 

Terry Beers (Aromas, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dingus Dreaming (Paperback)

If you live with dogs, you know how hard it is to keep from imagining them experiencing thoughts and emotions exactly as we do. But dogs are not human beings and we do them no favor by ascribing to them too-human characteristics, thereby rendering them charming but inauthentic. Alex Vardamis knows this, but does it anyway in his thoroughly delightful fable, Dingus Dreaming, the story of a dog who awakens to literacy thanks to a clout on the head from the New York Times.

Dingus dreams of becoming an influential writer of "hell raising op-eds," flirts with the idea of becoming a novelist, but-thanks to the intellectual stimulus of other literary dogs of high Modernism, Haig Jeffers, Charley Steinbeck, and Yukon Buck London among them-he ultimately revels in the quotidian joys of being a dog in canine-crazy Carmel-by-the-Sea. One wonders if Emerson had a dog, because Dingus' begins to sound a good deal like the Sage of Concord. "Too much thought dulls intuition. Book learning," Dingus discovers, "is no substitute for personal experience." Alas for Dingus that personal experience reveals to him the casual brutality of all too many human beings: compassionless neuterers, loutish Saluki beaters, and snobbish devotees of the doggy genome project known as the AKC.

Throughout his awakening, though, Dingus learns that some human beings are almost as pure of heart as the unforgettable Newfoundland Seaman, who led Lewis and Clark across a continent. The steadfast loyalty and unquestioning love of mistress Audrey, show Dingus that not all human beings teach us, in the words of Haig Jeffers, "to be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant, an insufferable master."