Sleep and Dream: Theory, Representation,
Imagination
Why do we sleep and why do we dream? Do dreams have a meaning?
What is the relationship of sleep and dream to
waking life? Who are we during this absent third
of our lives? Despite the twentieth-century discoveries
of REM sleep and circadian rhythms, sleep still mystifies
and intrigues, as it has for centuries, providing
fertile subject material for writers, artists and
philosophers. In this course we will pursue a double
route. 1) We will study the evolving path of sleep
theory in the western world, from Aristotle to Freud to present
day. 2) We will investigate strategies employed throughout
the ages to represent sleep and dream. In addition to
select readings on theories of sleep and dream, we will
examine short stories, plays, essays and films which
seek to render the sleep experience into something
we can grasp. Throughout, we will consider the relationship
between sleep and the creative imagination.
Required Material (available at the Student Bookstore):
Calderon, Pedro. Life is a Dream.
Dement, William. The Promise of Sleep.
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of
Dreams.
Kessler, Joan, ed. Demons of the Night:
Tales of the Fantastic, Madness and the Supernatural
from Nineteenth-Century France.
Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth.
Additional Readings in Course Packet (available for purchase
at the Dept. of Modern Languages, Keiper 109)
UNIT I
Bulkeley, Kelly. An Introduction to
the Psychology of Dreaming, ch. 1-6.
Gautier, Theophile. "The Coffee Pot" in
Fallaize, ed.
Lavie, Peretz. The Enchanted World of
Sleep, ch. 1-4; 7-8.
UNIT II
Lambert, Johanna, ed. Wise Women of
the Dreamtime: Aboriginal Tales of the Ancestral
Powers. "Introduction" and select tales.
Lawlor, Robert. Voices of the First
Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime.
Ch. 2 & 14 (selections).
Miller, Patricia Cox Dreams in Late
Antiquity, ch. 4.
Tonkinson, Robert. The Mardudjara Aborigines:
Living the Dream in Australia's Desert. Ch.
1.
Walde, Christine. "Dream Interpretation
in a Prosperous Age? Artemidorus, the Greek Interpreter
of Dreams." in Dream Cultures.
Young, Serenity. Dreaming in the Lotus.
Ch. 1, 4 (selections)
UNIT III
Borges, Jorge Luis. "The
Circular Ruins."
Epel, Naomi, ed. Writers Dreaming
(selections)
On Reserve (at ATS)
"Brazil" (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
"The Matrix" (Wachowski Bros., 1999)
"Spellbound" (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945)
Course Program:
July:
1: Introduction; Ways of Talking about Sleep
UNIT I: Sleep and Dream as Physiological
and Psychological Phenomena
2: Physiology of Sleep; History of Sleep
Science; Chronobiology [Questions]
Dement, ch. 1-2 (p.13-50),
4-5 (p.74-124); Lavie, ch. 1-4 (@122 p. total)
3: Physiology & Psychology of Dreaming; intro to Freud;
Reaction Paper
Dement, ch. 13 (p.290-299); Lavie, ch.
7-8; Bulkeley, ch. 1; "Young Doctor Freud" (in-class
viewing)
4: Holiday
***
7: Freudian Dream Theory [Questions:
ch. 1-2] [Questions: ch. 3]
Freud, ch. 1 (A-D), 2-3 (p.35-80; 128-166);
Bulkeley, ch. 2 (@83 p. +)
8: Reading Day
9: Freud & Jung
Jung, "Symbols and the Interpretations
of Dreams;" Bulkeley, ch. 3. [Questions]
10: Contemporary Theories of Dream; Reaction Paper
Bulkeley, ch. 4, 5 (p.58-66) & 6; Gautier,
"The Coffee Pot" [Questions]
11: Reading Day
***
UNIT
II: Sleep and Dream as Cultural Phenomena
14: Dreams of Antiquity; Artemidorus; Cult
of Asclepius; 1st draft of PAPER
due
Walde, "Dream Interpretation in a Prosperous
Age?"; Miller, ch. 4 (p. 106-123) [Questions]
15: Reading Day
16: Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime; Dream
Journal Statement due
Lambert, Intro & select tales; Tonkinson,
"The Spiritual Imperative"; Lawlor, "Time and Space
in the Dreaming"; "The Ontology of the Dreamtime
(p. 264- 275) [Questions]
17: Buddhist Dream Yoga; Reaction Paper
selections from Young, Dreaming in the
Lotus; Calderon, Life is a Dream; [Questions]
18: Reading Day
***
UNIT
III: Sleep and Dream as Personal Phenomena
21: Dream, Illusion, Reality/ies
Gautier, "The Dead in Love" (in Kessler)
[Questions]; "The
Matrix" [Questions]
22: Reading Day; Final Draft of PAPER due
23: Madness and Somnambulism
Macbeth; Dement, ch.
8 (p.208-216) Sleep in Macbeth
[Questions]
24: Nightmare and Escape; Reaction Paper
Maupassant, "The Horla" (in Kessler); "Brazil" [Questions]
25: Reading Day; Progress Report due
***
28: Insomnia; Dream Journal Statement due
Fight Club
29: Creativity & Problem-Solving
Dement, ch. 14; Writers Dreaming
(selections); Borges, "The
Circular Ruins."
30: Presentation of Final Project/ Written Assessment due
31: Final Exam
Grade Breakdown
1 analytical paper: 25%
1 final project: 25%
1 final exam: 15%
participation & preparation (including
dream journal & informal writing assignments):
35%
Requirements and Guidelines
1. Readings:
All readings must be completed for the
date assigned on the syllabus. If not already
provided, I will give you exact page numbers as
we go. Readings will vary in length; however since
this is an accelerated course, be prepared to read a lot!
I have tried to schedule the heaviest readings after a reading
day. Start reading early and paceyourselves as you
go. I will also post reading discussion questions
on the Web Site before each class meeting, so you can
use the questions to help focus your reading. For some
sessions, the day's reading will be a film. These will
be on reserve for you to view at ATS. I may also schedule
an optional viewing time for the class. Details to
come.
2. Participation:
Since this is a small tutorial class, you
must be prepared to discuss what you have read with
the rest of us. By discuss I mean: ask questions,
try out ideas, agree, disagree, answer others' questions,
think out loud. Our meetings will be more informal
than in a traditional class. The direction our conversations
take will be up to you largely. Take advantage of this situation!
Everyone is expected to attend all scheduled
meetings on the syllabus. Use the reading days
to read, prepare assignments, work on your paper
and project, etc. The meeting dates are not set
in stone and can be rearranged with the group's consent.
If you must miss a meeting due to illness,
family emergency or religious holiday, please
notify me as soon as possible BEFORE the class
you will miss.
3. Weekly Reaction Paper:
Once a week you will write a 1-2page (typed,
double-spaced) reaction paper. This is a very
informal writing assignment in which you will
summarize your reaction, response, questions, ideas
about whatever we have been reading that week and/or
discussing in class. This is a chance for you to synthesize
some of your thoughts. Particularly if you are having
difficulty understanding the reading, the reaction
paper is an excellent tool to help you articulate
your questions. When you sit down to write, ask yourself:
what interested me in the reading this week and
why? What puzzled me? What do I want to pursue further?
The reaction paper may also give you ideas for your
final project, or help you pursue connections with your dream
journal experience.
4. Dream Journal:
This is your opportunity to engage with
the ideas and questions of this course in a very
personal way. I ask each of you to keep a semi-regular
dream journal throughout the semester: write down
any dreams you can remember, as often as you can.
It is usually a good idea to keep a notebook by your bed so
that you can jot them down as soon as you wake while they
are still vivid in your memory.
Questions I will ask you periodically throughout
the term: what does it feel like to write down
your dreams? What do you notice about them? Is
it easy or difficult to remember the dream? to put
it into words? How does your own experience of dreaming
correlate to the theories and stories of dreams
we read in this course?
*If you cannot remember any of your dreams,
then use the journal as a sleep log. Write down
the precise times you fall asleep and wake up, time
of day, etc. What is the quality of your sleep? Can
you determine how many sleep cycles you go through
in a given night? Eventually, paying attention to your sleep
may give you access to your dreams.
**Dreams are very personal. I will not read or grade the
dream journals. I will not collect them. I will simply
ask you to write 2 reflective statements (@ 1 page)
about the dream journal experience. Some people
remember their dreams readily; for others it is
rare that they remember any at all. If you dream-journal
regularly, you may find that you remember more and
more of your dreams. In short, this is an assignment
where you get to decide how much you put into it and how much
you get out of it. Think of it as an experiment. You never
know what you may discover.
5. Analytical Paper:
Each student will write one analytical
paper of 5-6 pages. I will provide you with a
list of possible topics for the paper as well as
guidelines for the paper's format. We will follow
a three-step process for paper-writing:
Step 1: We talk together as a group about your ideas and
I may ask you to write an initial outline or page describing
what you want to do.
Step 2: You will write a first draft of the paper and submit
it to me on the date assigned. I may schedule individual
meetings with you to discuss the draft, or I may
ask you to read each others' drafts. The goal will
be to identify areas that need improvement and focus
on the writing and editing process.
Step 3: Final revisions-- turn the polished product into
me on the date assigned.
All drafts should be typed and double-spaced. The paper grades
will reflect your work throughout each stage of
the writing process. Please note the due dates on
the syllabus for all drafts. Grades will be lowered
for papers submitted after the deadlines.
6. Final Project:
The creative project (for lack of a better
term) will be much more open than the paper. The
idea is this: during the term we will encounter
stories, plays, films, art and perhaps even music
that seek to tell us something about the elusive states
of sleep and dream. For the final project, it will be your
turn. You may write a short story, make a short film,
direct a scene of a play, compose a piece of music or
a song, paint a picture, write a collection of poems,
design a Web Site, write a computer program--create
anything that simultaneously makes the viewer, audience,
etc. engage with the questions of sleep and dream.
During the final two days of the semester,
each student will make a brief presentation of
his or her project to the class and hand in to me
a short written "preface" which will explain the
goal of the piece, how it relates to the themes and
questions we have discussed, etc.
We will brainstorm ideas for the projects
as we go along and I will provide you with more specific
guidelines. But you can start to think about this
now and I encourage you to talk to me about your
ideas. Sleep and dream have long been associated
with creativity and imagination. This project should indeed
allow you to put theory to practice.
7. Final Exam:
The final exam will be an essay exam, administered
on the last day of class. Details to come.
8. Academic Integrity:
The boon of readily available information
on the Internet requires all members of the academic
community to be clear and precise about citing
sources used for written and oral assignments. In
general, in MSS141 you will be writing and talking
about your own ideas and will not spend time reading
and researching secondary criticism, other than what is assigned
on the syllabus.
Nonetheless, please be advised that you
must credit all sources, whether print or digital,
that you use in your work. I will provide you with
the suitable format for citations during the term.
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