Dreams: Visions of the Night

This another of the excellent volumes in the Art and Imagination series from Thames and Hudson. One could do far worse than make this book the starting point in the exploration of significance of dreams. Dreaming is examined from both the point of view of ancient and traditional cultures (Pythagorians, C.G. Jung), and from that of rationalism and experimental science (Aristotle, behaviorists), though the emphasis is obviously on the former and the dream as the gateway to the unconscious- and divine guidance. The approach is cross-cultural and ranges from "the shamans of Malaysia, India, or North America; the visionary artists of Europe and East Asia; the traditions of Biblical, Koranic, and classical philosophy; and the ideas of analytical psychology and experimental science." The element that makes this book special (like the rest of the series) is the effective use of illustrations in terms of both quality and quantity. Yet, this emphasis on illustration does not mean that the text has been "dumbed down." On the contrary, I think of this as a "thinking person's coffee table book." As the text points out, like many ideas temporarily discredited by rationalism, the dream as a voice of inner truth is now being vindicated.

i knew this book had been published in the l970"s, and was thrilled to find a recent reprint. It analyses a number of approaches to dreaming that are usually not considered together-- the psychoanalytic tradition, the mystical tradition, the Native American tradition, etc. The book is very well written, and has magnificent colour illustrations and a number of black and white diagrams. Many subsequent books have drawn on material first presented in this one.I feel it was a great find!