cover image Perchance to Dream

Perchance to Dream

Charles Beaumont. Penguin Classics, $16 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-14-310765-1

The legacy of prolific author Beaumont (1929–1967) might be better preserved with a less exhaustive collection. The repeated use of unlikable protagonists getting their comeuppance as a core story concept, and the preponderance of nagging, unpleasant women, bury much of the better, more thoughtful work in the collection. The most interesting and touching stories include “The Magic Man,” in which a traveling magician who makes his living selling patent medicine survives on the adoration and love of his audience, and “In His Image,” a story about what a man will do for love when he comes to understand his own true nature. Readers are advised to flip past “The Jungle,” which uncomfortably exoticizes tribal Africans and punishes an unpleasant protagonist by killing his wife, and “Father, Dear Father,” the concluding joke of which has not aged well. Better curation would have saved readers the trouble of skipping around to find the gems. Agent: Susan Ramer, Don Congdon Associates. (Oct.)