The Oxford Book of Dreams (Oxford Books of Prose)

Dreams have been a source of delight and terror for as long as people have kept records of their thought. Whether dreams are the key to the unconscious, as Freud proposed, or a way of wiping clean the mental slate, as Dr. Francis Crick's theory suggests, they have filled the pages of numerous diaries and been an integral part of literary masterworks such as The Divine Comedy and Finnegan's Wake.

In this rich anthology, Stephen Brook has collected hundreds of dreams recorded by authors, poets, psychologists, and everyday dreamers since pre-Christian days. Ranging from Artemidorus's crude, 2nd-century analysis to Freud and Jung's dream psychology, and including works by Coleridge, Yeats, Tolstoy, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Heller, and many other authors, The Oxford Book of Dreams offers an intriguing and varied sampling of humanity's collective unconscious. It explores the inexhaustible fascination of dreams and their power as a great source of literary inspiration.