The Dreamers: A Club

In Short

This episodic comic novel follows a men's club whose members gather for a formal literary experiment: each man consumes a heavy, indigestible supper of items like mince pie or lobster, sleeps, and then recounts the dream narrative induced by his indigestion. These dream-stories serve as affectionate parodies of prominent late-nineteenth-century authors, genres, and cultural fads, ranging from high-society romance to naval combat, dialect fiction, and detective mysteries. The frame narrative holds the collection together through light banter and dry editorial commentary. The book has endured as a lively historical snapshot of fin-de-siècle popular reading tastes and literary satire.

The Story

The book opens with the establishment of the Dreamers, a social club whose members devise a novel method for literary production. Convinced that original fiction can be generated by deliberate indigestion, the members agree to eat rich, heavy meals before sleeping, transcribe the resulting dreams, and present them at their regular meetings. A journalist named Billy Jones acts as the literary editor of the enterprise, promising to polish the grammar, correct the spelling, and organize the resulting tales into a publishable collection.

As the meetings proceed, each member draws a numbered ball to determine the order of presentation. Thomas Snobbe opens the proceedings with "Van Squibber's Failure," a spoof of high-society stories in which an intensely fastidious gentleman tests his valet's obedience with absurd demands—such as ordering a Melton overcoat on short notice—and later flees a loose zoo lion in Central Park to avoid being seen without proper footwear at his club.

Subsequent tales target other popular literary styles of the 1890s. Bedford Parke presents a theatrical farce written as a play script, complete with absurd stage directions and self-justifying authorial notes explaining that long, empty lulls are necessary to stretch the acting time to a full evening. Monty St. Vincent offers "The Salvation of Findlayson," a nautical satire in which a ship's mechanical parts—including the Donkey Engine, the Capstan, and the Funnel—hold animated conversations while a dazed English traveler fails to grasp their mechanical humor.

Later chapters turn toward genre parody and contemporary news. Harry Snobbe contributes a tale of melancholic melodrama set on the Isle of Man, where a professional "Gloomster" is banished by the local bishop for secretly showing kindness to a beggar by giving him apple pie instead of food. Haarlem Bridge reads a absurdly ornate "magazine poem" laden with obscure vocabulary, ostensibly written in reaction to a minor administrative delay in the Spanish-American War. Greenwich Place delivers "Dolly Visits Chicago," blending the witty high-society dialogue of Anthony Hope with the vernacular commentary of Mr. Dooley as the characters discuss art, cocktails, and drinking in oil paintings.

The collection reaches its climax with spoofed adventure and detective fiction. One member narrates a grand naval engagement in which Commodore Dewey equips his entire fleet with telephone lines and switchboards to coordinate battle orders across the ocean. Another recount features Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solving "The Mystery of Pinkham's Diamond Stud," only to discover that no crime occurred—a small child simply swallowed the gem from a center table. In the final chapters, Berkeley Hights presents a dialect story featuring Scottish literary figures Lang Tammas and Drumsheugh, before Billy Jones closes the proceedings with a final story, leaving the club members to debate their literary success.

How It Unfolds

The club is formed A group of ambitious young men found the Dreamers Club, agreeing to generate stories by eating heavy suppers, sleeping, and recording the resulting dreams. Journalist Billy Jones agrees to act as editor, while aspiring author Hudson Rivers hopes the venture will help him join the Authors' Club and impress a Bostonian woman.

Society and farces Thomas Snobbe opens the meetings with a satire of an overly meticulous aristocrat who loses a woman to a escaped lion while worrying about his shoes. Bedford Parke follows with a theatrical farce where characters deliberate over missing buttons and acknowledge that their plot exists solely to fill two hours of stage time.

Machines and gloomsters Monty St. Vincent narrates a tale where a steamship's engine components hold a committee meeting to joke with an uncomprehending English traveler. Harry Snobbe presents a story set on the Isle of Man, where the official family of "Gloomsters" loses its position after showing mercy to a wanderer.

Poetry and dialogues Haarlem Bridge recites an deliberately obscure magazine poem with a sprawling, absurdly specific title regarding war logistics. Greenwich Place reads a composite dialogue bringing together a refined society woman and Mr. Dooley to discuss the nature of art and modern drinking habits.

War cables and detectives A dream narrator recounts the Battle of Manila Bay transformed into a telephonic customer service nightmare managed from a ship's hold. Dr. Watson listens as Sherlock Holmes uses grand deductive logic to solve a missing diamond case that ends with a child swallowing the jewel.

Dialect and adjournment Berkeley Hights presents a heavy Scottish dialect confrontation between characters from rival literary towns. Mr. Billy Jones reads the final contribution, and the club members adjourn after discussing the artistic value of their indigestion-driven anthology.

The People

• Billy Jones, a working journalist for the Oracle who serves as the club's practical editor. He approaches the project with quiet amusement, agreeing to polish the manuscripts while laughing privately at his friends' literary pretentions.
• Thomas Snobbe, a class-conscious member from Yonkers who tells the first dream-story. He wants to maintain social decorum above all else, which is reflected in his tale about an aristocrat who prioritizes proper footwear over saving a woman from a wild animal.
• Hudson Rivers, an overly enthusiastic member from Hastings driven by social and romantic ambitions. He wants to earn admission to the Authors' Club and win the hand of a Boston woman, viewing the club's output as his ticket to literary fame.
• Van Squibber, the fictional protagonist of Snobbe's dream-story. He demands absolute efficiency from his valet and avoids public embarrassment at any cost, choosing to let a lion devour an acquaintance rather than be seen walking without shoes.
• Sherlock Holmes, a parody of Conan Doyle's detective appearing in Watson's dream tale. He wants to demonstrate that total awareness of minor details explains all phenomena, though his grand deductions lead only to mundane domestic accidents.
• Dr. Watson, Holmes's loyal companion, who wants to hear another dramatic mystery but ends up chronicling a silly case involving a child and a swallowed diamond.

In Its Own Voice

"A story told is hardly likely to be in the form calculated to become literature."

Before the dream-stories begin, Billy Jones gently reminds his fellow club members that spoken tales require careful editorial revision to achieve genuine literary merit.

"To avoid funerals, at which the Gloomster's wit was so fearsome a thing, the sick or the maimed and the halt fled out into the open sea and drowned themselves..."

In Harry Snobbe's melancholy dream, the narrator explains the terrifying societal impact of the Isle of Man's official spoil-sport.

"Women can reason, and therefore they have a right to be included in the classification whether they do or don't."

During the detective parody, Sherlock Holmes offers Dr. Watson a characteristically precise yet absurd piece of logic regarding human nature.

What It's Really About

At its core, the book is a playful critique of late-nineteenth-century literary culture and consumer publishing. By framing its stories as the products of late-night indigestion, the narrative satirizes the formulas, mannerisms, and cliches of contemporary bestselling authors. It pokes fun at the high-minded ambition of young men who wish to achieve literary fame without undertaking real creative labor, relying instead on gimmicks and professional editing. Beyond its parody of specific writers, the text examines the absurdity of modern media trends, including over-hyped war reporting, dense magazine poetry, dense regional dialects, and the dramatic conventions of popular theater.

Why Read It Today

This collection will appeal to readers who enjoy literary parodies, nineteenth-century humor, and light satire of classic tropes. Reading it feels like looking through an old volume of vintage magazine humor, filled with dry irony, situational absurdity, and snappy dialogue. The humor relies on familiarity with period literature—such as Sherlock Holmes, Scottish dialect fiction, and Spanish-American War reporting—making it an entertaining historical artifact for fans of classic popular fiction.

The book does present a few challenges for a modern audience. The text contains long, convoluted sentences designed to mimic heavy prose styles, as well as extended passages of phonetic Scottish dialect that require careful reading. Some of the parody targets, like late-nineteenth-century magazine poets or forgotten theatrical farces, may lack immediate recognition for readers unfamiliar with the era. Nevertheless, the light tone, clever frame narrative, and affectionate ribbing of timeless storytelling tropes ensure that the book remains an engaging, witty diversion.