The Take-over

"The Take-Over" owes its origin to a dream experienced by the author some years ago - a nightmare described in his foreword as 'recognizably relevant to changes in our social and public life...when the story was written.' The setting is a capital city after a coup. The protagonist, a writer, is forbidden to write and instead is appointed court fool, answerable to secret service officers and the Director of the state, who devises for the writer a public function so inappropriate and bizarre that it drives him to the ultimate act of defiance.