Do our dreams tell us something about ourselves as Freud would have it? Do they tell us about the future? Can they act as a warning of impending doom? So many writers have used that device to push their story to another level of suspense...
This morning I woke up in a sweat, I'd had a nightmare: a friend of mine had asked me to look after her young child, a lovely, lively red-haired little boy, about four years-old, his brown eyes full of mischief. I had taken him to the village fair and somehow, the child had disappeared. I looked for him everywhere, searching every carousel, pastry shop, game stand and he was nowhere. I kept looking for his read head in the crowd, but there was no read-haired person to be seen.
What would I tell his mother? God, what should I do? Call the police in, obviously, the sensible thing to do. Make them look for the child and hope they'd find him soon. But that was no solution when it came to what I'd have to tell the mother. I was responsible and I had failed miserably...
I woke up feeling like a despicable piece of you-know-what. And yet the strange thing is, I have no idea who the mother was. I can't remember her face, if I ever saw it. This is so typical of dreams: a major character featuring in them has no face, no identity. At least, that's the way it is for me.
The other odd thing about this dream is that I remembered it, I normally never do. My dreams vanish in the crevices of my memory and usually, all I know is that I had a dream but have no idea what it was. One thing for sure: that dream expresses angst - as do the paintings you see here that I did a few years ago.
I sincerely hope that neither the paintings nor my dream of the lost child are warnings of impending events!
Do you dream too? What do you think your dreams express, desire, fear, a yearning, a sense of loss? Or do you believe dreams are or can be signs coming from another world, warnings of future events?
If you're a writer, do you use your dreams in your books? I never do, if one of my characters dreams, I have to invent it or use someone else's dream.
Or do dreams have absolutely no place in your busy life, and if so, how do you manage to keep them out of your unconscious?
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| Nightmare (painting by Claude) |
This morning I woke up in a sweat, I'd had a nightmare: a friend of mine had asked me to look after her young child, a lovely, lively red-haired little boy, about four years-old, his brown eyes full of mischief. I had taken him to the village fair and somehow, the child had disappeared. I looked for him everywhere, searching every carousel, pastry shop, game stand and he was nowhere. I kept looking for his read head in the crowd, but there was no read-haired person to be seen.
What would I tell his mother? God, what should I do? Call the police in, obviously, the sensible thing to do. Make them look for the child and hope they'd find him soon. But that was no solution when it came to what I'd have to tell the mother. I was responsible and I had failed miserably...
I woke up feeling like a despicable piece of you-know-what. And yet the strange thing is, I have no idea who the mother was. I can't remember her face, if I ever saw it. This is so typical of dreams: a major character featuring in them has no face, no identity. At least, that's the way it is for me.
The other odd thing about this dream is that I remembered it, I normally never do. My dreams vanish in the crevices of my memory and usually, all I know is that I had a dream but have no idea what it was. One thing for sure: that dream expresses angst - as do the paintings you see here that I did a few years ago.
 |
| Night Phantasms (painting by Claude) |
Do you dream too? What do you think your dreams express, desire, fear, a yearning, a sense of loss? Or do you believe dreams are or can be signs coming from another world, warnings of future events?
If you're a writer, do you use your dreams in your books? I never do, if one of my characters dreams, I have to invent it or use someone else's dream.
Or do dreams have absolutely no place in your busy life, and if so, how do you manage to keep them out of your unconscious?
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Interpretation of seams? Sigmund Freud's couch needs £5,000 restoration(guardian.co.uk)
My Uncle Freud: A Famous Family (Part 2)(fairobserver.com)
Comments
Elizabeth Jennings
So yes, for us writers, our dreams do enter our books in more ways than one, not just through the characters but the plot too!