Penelope and Odysseus: The Perils of Dream Interpretation
I’d like to illustrate some basic principles of dream interpretation by telling a story. It’s a very old story, one you may have heard before, but I’d like to tell it again because even though it’s “just a story” it highlights the real perils that come when... [Read more of this post]
Mary Shelley’s Baby Comes Back to Life
In February of 1815 a baby girl was born two months prematurely to Mary Godwin, seventeen years old at the time, and the poet Percy B. Shelley. Twelve days later Mary went to the child during the night and found she had died in her sleep. On March 19, 1815 Mary recorded the following dream in her... [Read more of this post]
The Dreams and Nightmares of Harry Potter
More than four hundred million people, most of them children and teenagers, have read the Harry Potter novels of J.K. Rowling, immersing themselves in a fantastical world in which broomsticks fly, portraits talk, wizards cast spells–and dreams reveal honest emotional truths. Rowling’s hugely... [Read more of this post]
Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
Werner Herzog’s documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” has just been released in the US, and it’s worth seeing for anyone interested in paleolithic cave art and the origins of human consciousness. The Chauvet caves of Southern France contain paintings dating back more than... [Read more of this post]
A Lucid Dreaming Cautionary Tale: Graham Joyce’s “Dreamside”
Later this month (3-23) I’m joining British novelist Graham Joyce at the Rubin Museum in New York City to discuss “Are Dreams Pure Fantasy?” as part of the museum’s “Brainwave” lecture series on dreams. I’ve just read Joyce’s first novel, Dreamside, and it’s a hauntingly beautiful... [Read more of this post]
Dreams in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A dream researcher friend asked if knew anything about the role of dreams in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” since she could not find any good info on the web. Here’s my response, which she suggested I post: One way to think of this play is as a commentary on the... [Read more of this post]
The Nightmares of H.P. Lovecraft
The American fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) wrote a series of interconnected short stories and novellas in which dreaming features as a frightening portal between the normal world of sanity and the unnamable horrors that lurk in every shadow. Dreams and nightmares are central themes... [Read more of this post]
The Inception Files
It’s reasonable to expect a dream researcher would have a clear, informed opinion about the movie Inception. Unfortunately I don’t. Instead I’m caught between conflicting impressions, some favorable, mostly critical. Three factors inclining my thumb in an upward direction: 1. Christopher... [Read more of this post]
14 Weirdest Dreams in Hollywood
The April 2010 issue of the British film magazine Empire includes a feature in which I interpret the dreams of 14 movie actors and directors: Robert Downey, Jr., Kate Winslett, Peter Jackson, Milla Jovovich, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Steven Soderbergh, Marion Cotillard, Rachel Bilson,... [Read more of this post]
Dreaming and the Cinema of David Lynch
(Dreaming: The Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams 2003, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 49-60) Abstract: This essay explores the influence of dreams and dreaming on the filmmaking of David Lynch. Focusing particular attention on Mulholland Drive (2001), Lost Highway (1997), Blue Velvet (1986), and... [Read more of this post]
