I dreamt that I was sitting in a park together with my father when a whole bunch of men in suits approached him and wanted him to swear allegiance to the communist party. We were back in Yugoslavia. My father was under some sort of suspicion, and he had to sign some documents before swearing in front of several witnesses. I was quite annoyed with the whole thing. “Who are you?” I asked the men who surrounded my father. One of them said something, but he was speaking so softly that I could not understand a word. I remember that I was tempted to tell the men that my father was fine, but that I was a dissident. I wanted to tell them that I had published under a pseudonym many notes critical of the communist system. I woke up in the middle of the night and started thinking about my three series of notes published in Telos in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Founded in the late Sixties, the journal aimed to provide the New Left with a theoretical perspective. As soon as I got up in the morning, I checked it on the World Wide Web. And I was delighted that it was still going. To my surprise, I even thought of publishing in Telos yet another series of my critical notes. Whence my dream, I concluded hesitantly.

Addendum (June 11, 2014)

I sent this piece by electronic mail to Russell Berman, the journal’s editor since Paul Piccone, its founder and editor, passed away a decade ago. I put the address of the Residua website under the piece. The subject was straightforward: “Dreaming of Telos.” Berman responded within a few hours. “Thanks for sharing your dream!” he started. “It’s good to hear from participants in the history of the journal.” I wished him all the best in my reply, and I mentioned that I remembered Piccone very well. “It is amazing to rediscover you in a dream,” I said. And then I added that he could search my site with either “Telos” or “Piccone” are search words. There was much of interest over the years. “Looking back,” I concluded, “it’s amazing that we are still in the same world.” As for publishing ever again in Telos, the dream is best forgotten. My website is all I need at this stage.