Dreaming and Storytelling States Paperback John Wiley & Sons 9780801477560

Dreaming and StorytellingAuthor(s): Bert O. States\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Cornell University Press, United States\nImprint: Cornell University Press\nISBN-13: 9780801477560, 978-0801477560\nSynopsis\nAre dreams merely odd things that happen to us at night, sometimes pleasant, sometimes terrifying, but not to be taken too seriously? Is there any reason to think about them at all, other than in terms of questions such as ''Why should Aunt Sarah turn into a bird and invite us all to dinner in her sycamore tree?\""\n\n In this witty and eminently readable book, Bert O. States rethinks both the meaning of dreams and the relationship between dreaming and the telling of stories. Dreams constitute a private literature of the self, he says, thatdespite their seeming lack of order or structurecan help us to understand the very nature of shared literature.\n\n Observers have often pointed out narrative elements that are common to dreams and storiesincluding \""cinematic\"" visual technique.