Dreamways

Title: Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems
Author: Edgar Allan Poe

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."

 

Edgar Allan Poe, "Eleanora"

U.S. Short Story Author, Editor, & Poet  1809-1849

Title: The Fountain of the Love of Wisdom: An Homage to Marie-Louise Von Franz
Author:

I have been pondering death in the wake of my dear friend Lee's departure on March 27. He had been gone in many ways for the past two years - to addictions and the pursuit of his own escape and redemption on the streets and alleys of Denver.  But Lee was many things, as all of us are. He was a musician, an artist and a seeker of meaning. He had the kinds of dreams that showed clearly the true nature of his soul - the kinds of dreams that awakened him in a wash of tears over the beauty and terror of himself and nature.  read more »

Title: Journeys of Simplicity: Traveling Light with Thomas Merton, Basho, Edward Abbey, Annie Dillard, & Others
Author: Philip Harnden

In this collection of lists and anecdotes, Philip Harnden allows us the privilege of journeying with travelers both famous and obscure, contemporary, ancient and in some cases the characters of novels and legends.  In many ways it is like reading dream journals. 

William Least Heat Moon (b. 1939)  wrote of his travels:  "If the circle had come full turn, I hadn't.  I can't say, over the miles, that I had learned what I had wanted to know because I hadn't known what I wanted to know.  But I did learn what I didn't know I wanted to know." 

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Title: Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think)
Author: John Leland

"Damn! You had a vision, boy, a vision. Only damn fools pay no attention to visions.“ These words, spoken by a character in a Jack Kerouac’s novel, indicate the tremendous importance of visions and hallucinations in the life and writings of the novelist Jack Kerouac. This form of dreaming is perceptively explored in John Leland‘s eminently readable book Why Kerouac Matters.

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Title: Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think)
Author: John Leland

"Beneath its wild yea-saying, On the Road is a book about how to live your life.“ This idea guides John Leland‘s exeptionally readable and stimulating look at Beat novelist Jack Kerouac, Why Kerouac Matters. Leland demonstrates that what continues to be riveting about Kerouac and his fellow Beats is their passionate quest, in living and in writing, to create a meaningful life.  read more »

Title: Hedwig and Berti
Author: Frieda Arkin

Frieda Arkin’s novel Hedwig and Berti is a compelling interweaving of stories of loss. All of the the interestingly-drawn characters deal with loss of home and the loss of dreams. Physical displacement is mirrored by a loss of dreams as goals and ideals, an intricate part of each person‘s sense of existential displacement. Waking nightmares instigated by war leads to the loss of dreams which, in turn, leads to lives that feel like nightmares.

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Title: Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think)
Author: John Leland

In John Leland‘s exeptionally readable and stimulating look at Beat novelist and counter-culture icon Jack Kerouac,  Why Kerouac Matters (2007, Viking Penguin), we find out that Kerouac had a strong and vital connection with his sleep dreams.

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Title: Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation
Author: William H. Gass

In his elegantly written and fascinating volume, Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation (1999, Basic Books, New York), translator and essayist William H. Gass takes the reader on a thought-provoking and fascinating journey into the world of the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, considered by many to be one of the best 20th European century poets. His fascinating explorations of Rilke’s writings, their structure, history and meaning, have much in common with methods of exploring the world of dreams.  read more »

Title: Lush Life: A Novel
Author: Richard Price

"A Kaleidoscopic Perspective on a Murder, and Dreams Lost and Found.“  This recent newspaper headline, psychedelically effusive, caught my eye.  As did the subheadline above the article’s continuation on a second page: "Kaleidoscopic Perspective on a Dreamer’s Murder.“  These dream-related headings announce a review of Lush Life, the latest novel by Richard Price (one of the writers for the critically acclaimed and now ended HBO series, The Wire) written by Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times (04 Mar 08).

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Title: The Essential Rumi (Penguin Classics)
Author: Jelaluddin Rumi

In the wake of another month of near-dreamlessness I turned to Rumi's poems. Letting the book fall open I found The Guest House to be just the nudge toward balancing my perspective that sleep dreams so often provide:

THE GUEST HOUSE

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

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