"Dreams" is a collection of short stories by Olive Schreiner. The stories explore the inner lives and struggles of women in Victorian-era South Africa, grappling with issues of identity, love, and societal expectations. The collection includes several poignant and thought-provoking stories, which follows a young woman who defies social conventions to pursue her passion for botany, and "In a Far-Off World," which explores the complex relationship between a white woman and her mixed-race daughter. Other stories delve into the realm of dreams and the subconscious, including "The Lost Joy," which follows a woman on a journey of self-discovery through her dreams, and "The Artist's Secret," which explores the hidden desires and fears of an aspiring artist. Throughout the collection, Schreiner employs a powerful and evocative prose style to capture the innermost thoughts and emotions of her characters, illuminating the struggles and triumphs of women in a patriarchal society. "Dreams" remains a landmark work of feminist literature and a testament to Schreiner's skill as a storyteller and social commentator.
Olive Schreiner (Ralph Iron Olive) was born in Wittebergen, Cape Colony, South Africa, on March 25, 1855.She was a writer who published the first great South African novel, The Story of an African Farm (1883). She had strong insight, aggressive feminist and liberal perspectives on politics and society, and an extraordinary spirit that was damaged by asthma and depression. Schreiner had no proper education, even though she used to read widely and was taught by her mother. From 1874 until 1881, when she went to England, expecting to study medicine, she wrote two semiautobiographical books, Undine (published in 1928) and The Story of an African Farm (1883), and started From Man to Man (1926), for which she worked alternately for 40 years but never finished.
