Dreams in Cultural History: Dream Narratives and the History of Subjectivity. Issue 2 (October 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Richter, Isabel
• Is Part Of: Cultural history. Volume 3:Issue 2(2014)
• Page Start: 126
• Page End: 147
• Publication Date: 2014-10
• Subjects: Civilization -- History -- Periodicals; 306.09
• DOI: 10.3366/cult.2014.0067
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-290X

Abstract

<abstract xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>The article focuses on dreams as sources for European cultural history by showing how subjectivity can be historicized. Basing its analysis on twenty-one published dream narrations of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth century about death and dying, this article examines which versions of the self become recognizable when one faced death, dying, and the end of life. These dream narrations provide insights into individuals' patterns of interpretation in their ambivalent contexts of norms, wishes, ideals, and fears. The dream narrations focus on various topics: dreams and visions of resurrection, the Last Judgment, and deceased close relatives. And some authors also reflect on the themes of life as a shadow and as a dream. Despite the quite heterogeneous source material, all of these dream narrations involve views of the self, for dreams about the end of life, death, and dying are closely related to writers' quests for identity. It shows how dreams work as catalysts for shaping spaces of the self.</p> </abstract>