Chapter 1: I Sell My Dreams

Answer. Frau Frieda comprehends her dreams and predicts the fate of the family members, which earned her a job in Vienna in a very religious family. She came across the author while on this job. When the author tries to ask about her whereabouts, she replies, “I sell my dreams”. Thus, the author was made to believe in the prophetic ability of Frau Frieda when she advised him to leave Vienna five years ago. But actually, the author reveals that he had to leave Vienna for some other reasons, not because she had a bad dream about him and advised him to leave Vienna. The author feels she’s just using tricks to continue her job of selling dreams to earn a living.

Answer. The author thought that Frau Frieda’s dreams were a stratagem for survival because she had revealed about herself that she sold her dreams by foretelling fate about others in the town and had made a fortune out of it. Then she was hired at a salary that covered her minor expenses to predict a religious family’s fate in Vienna. So, the author had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for survival, which never surprised him.

Answer. Pablo Neruda, a friend of the author, had come to Spain for the first time. The author compares Neruda to a Renaissance pope because Neruda’s behaviour was childish. He walked through the crowd like an invalid elephant. Whenever he watched something, his mind had a child’s curiosity about its inner workings. For the author, the world appeared to him as a substantial wind-up toy. However, the author compared Neruda to a Renaissance pope as he was insatiable and refined. Thus, the author could not imagine anyone closer to the idea one has of a renaissance pope other than Neruda.