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The Dream House
Craig higginson.
Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Craig Higginson's The Dream House . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
The Dream House: Introduction
The dream house: plot summary, the dream house: detailed summary & analysis, the dream house: themes, the dream house: quotes, the dream house: characters, the dream house: symbols, the dream house: theme wheel, brief biography of craig higginson.
Historical Context of The Dream House
Other books related to the dream house.
- Full Title: The Dream House
- When Written: 2007–2015
- Where Written: South Africa
- When Published: 2015
- Literary Period: Contemporary
- Genre: Realism
- Setting: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Climax: Beauty tells Patricia that Richard set his dog on Grace because Grace was pregnant with his child.
- Antagonist: Richard Wiley
- Point of View: Third Person
Extra Credit for The Dream House
Very Meta. Early in The Dream House , farmer owner Patricia Wiley discovers an old ticket for a play called Dream of the Dog among her things. Dream of the Dog is Craig Higginson’s first solo-authored play, on which The Dream House is based.
isiZulu. Zulu, also called isiZulu, is one of South Africa’s official languages. Craig Higginson worked with two translators, Jacob Ntshangase and Babongile Zulu, to make sure the isiZulu dialogue in The Dream House was accurate.
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The Dream House
by Craig Higginson
The dream house study guide.
The Dream House is one of South African novelist and playwright Craig Higginson 's most popular novels. Published in 2015, it was adapted from a play of his entitled The Dream of the Dog (2010).
Higginson began writing the outline of a novel in 2000, then turned it into a play, then a radio play. That radio play became the 2010 play, which was very popular in England. Around 2012, Higginson began reworking into a full novel. In an interview with Arja Salafranca, Higginson explained why he felt the need to adapt the play into a novel: "the bones of the piece felt very good, but in some ways it was a missed opportunity. The productions hadn't done the stories justice. What the characters are thinking and feeling can't be accessed in a play; it's hard for a play to explore."
The story was based on a real house and real people. In an interview with English Experience, Higginson explained, "I went to boarding school in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. On the other side of the hill from our school lived a farmer and his wife who were acquaintances of my family. I started to visit them over weekends. They were very similar to the characters of Patricia and Richard in the novel. They were vivid, eccentric, and skeptical of my ‘city boy’ ways, but they were always kind to me. I got to know the farm as well as I knew our garden at home and I always felt welcome there. When I started to write my first play, it was set there. I think it was there, on that farm and in the surrounding Drakensberg hills, that my imagination found its starting place. Several of my plays and novels have been set in that area since. So, the novel comes from the place and the people, as well as some of the stories that I heard while living there—including the incident when the farmer’s Rottweiler dog attacked a young woman who worked at the dairy—but it comes, first and foremost, from me."
The novel generally received positive reviews, with notable South African author Nadine Gordimer calling it "an open and frank exploration of human life that resonates beyond race. Looksmart is a welcome new kind of character in the constantly evolving reality of African literature."
The Dream House Questions and Answers
The Question and Answer section for The Dream House is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
The point essay argues that there is more tability to be found in the owining of the home. Give examples of chages that might ocurrió for a renter that are out of his or her control. Use the text for support.
All of the characters are, in some way, searching for a real home—for their "dream house." Even if they have a roof over their heads, it is difficult sometimes for them to feel as if they were really at home. Beauty longs for a home of her own, ...
What is your question here?
The Dreamhouse by Craig Higginson
Check out the themes page below:
https://www.gradesaver.com/the-dream-house/study-guide/themes
Study Guide for The Dream House
The Dream House study guide contains a biography of Craig Higginson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
- About The Dream House
- The Dream House Summary
- Character List
Lesson Plan for The Dream House
- About the Author
- Study Objectives
- Common Core Standards
- Introduction to The Dream House
- Relationship to Other Books
- Bringing in Technology
- Notes to the Teacher
- Related Links
- The Dream House Bibliography
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