Dreams and Destinies cover

Dreams and Destinies

by Marguerite Yourcenar

"Dreams and Destinies, the Rosetta stone of Marguerite Yourcenar's canon, is an intimate journal of her dreams. In this book, Yourcenar writes in a daring yet unconventional autobiographical form that allows the reader to view her life as it is refracted through the poetic sensibility of her own sleeping mind. Men, women, children, animals, and mythical creatures populate her dreams as Yourcenar wanders through a picture gallery of the soul, pausing before ruined cathedrals filled with candles, dark ravines that hold dead bodies, and still reflecting pools located deep inside soaring gothic churches. Revised to include changes that she requested before her death, and now available for the first time in English, Dreams and Destinies is a reminder from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century that the dreams we create are with us forever."--BOOK JACKET.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?