Syvi and Daddy
Author: Dimitra Didangelou
Publishing House: Gavrielides, 2013
(Written and published in Greek language)
Where does logic end and madness begin? Where does reality stop and where do dreams stop? The narrator and central heroine, locked up for days in an apartment, transcribes the testimonies of people suffering from mental issues, former inmates of psychiatric hospitals. Their every sentence evokes repressed thoughts, awakens erased memories, brings up buried images.
At the same time, and counterintuitively, the reader follows details of Sylvia Plath’s long-suffering life. The American poet worked for a time as a secretary in the Psychiatric Department of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, also transcribing the dreams of psychiatric patients in order to inspire her writing. The result of this work was the famous short story ‘Mr Panic and the Dream Bible’.
The narrator’s obsession with Plath disturbs her sleep, and her dreams become a patchwork of her own reality, Plath’s and the former inmates’. Near the end, there is a confusion of intent, where the narrative voice of the heroine, the testimonial material and the Plath material are interwoven as if they become the same narrative person. In between them all, a seven-headed cat wanders around.
“Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more about life?”
Ellis Havellock
Note: The testimonies are true and come from the author’s documentary “De-institutionalization: The Road Back”. The documentary was shown on state television and at Greek and international festivals. The anonymity of the residents is maintained with changes in their names and details of their lives.
Watch the documentary here:
