Primary Texts

Dreaming in the Lotus: Buddhist Dream Narrative, Imagery & Practice, by Serinity Young

This is a historical study of Buddhist dream theory and practice, including the significant role that dreams play in the written life stories of Buddha and other important teachers.

Young, Serinity. Dreaming in the Lotus: Buddhist Dream Narrative, Imagery & Practice. Wisdom Publications, 1999.

The Mardu Aborigines: Living the Dream in Australia's Desert, by Robert Tonkinson

Tonkinson has a succinct and clearly written introduction to the Dreamtime, the epoch of story and creation for aboriginal Australians.

Tonkinson, Robert. The Mardudjara Aborigines: Living the Dream in Australia's Desert. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979.

Dreaming: Anthropological and Psychological Interpretations, edited by Barbara Tedlock

Anthology of 10 essays on dreaming from anthropological and psychological perspectives.

Tedlock, Barbara, ed. Dreaming: Anthropological and Psychological Interpretations. School of American Research Press, 1992.

Sleep: Bedtime Reading, edited by Robert Peacock and Roger Gorman

Beautifully arranged anthology of poems, stories, essays, songs, and photographs inspired by or suggestive of sleep and dream. The collection includes work by Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, John Updike, Alice Walker, and many more.

Check out the Print Version:

Sleep: Bedtime Reading. Ed. Robert Peacock and Roger Gorman. Universe, 1998.

Dream Cultures: Explorations in the Comparative History of Dreaming, edited by David Shulman and Guy Stroumsa

Anthology of essays on dream across cultures and time periods, including classical Greece and Rome, India, China, medieval Judaism and Islam, and early Christianity.

Shulman, David & Guy Stroumsa, ed. Dream Cultures: Explorations in the Comparative History of Dreaming. Oxford UP, 2002.

Dream-singers: the African-American Way with Dreams by Anthony Shafton

Shafton interviewed 115 African-Americans about their dreams and synthesized his results into a picture of how a particular American subculture views and understands its dreams.

Shafton, Anthony. Dream-singers: the African-American Way with Dreams. Wiley, 2001.

The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Mark Dahlby

This is an excellent introduction to the theory and practice of dream yoga. A teacher in the Bön tradition, Rinpoche is one of the foremost experts in the field of dream yoga/lucid dreaming, and its role in Tibetan spiritual life.

READ THE BOOK ONLINE

Rinpoche, Tenzin Wangyal and Mark Dahlby. The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep. Snow Lion Publications, 1998.

Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty

From the New York Times Book Review: “a brilliant analysis of the complex role of dreams and dreaming in Indian religion, philosophy, literature, and art.”

O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities. U Chicago P, 1986.

Dreams in Late Antiquity by Patricia Cox Miller

READ SELECTIONS ONLINE

In this meticulously prepared study, Miller discusses prevalent theories and practices of dreaming in the late antique world. Included is an excellent chapter on the cult of Asclepius and the various ways in which the late Greco-Roman people used dreams for healing.

Miller, Patricia Cox. Dreams in Late Antiquity. Princeton UP, 1997.

Voices of the First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime by Robert Lawlor

While Lawlor’s take on the Aborigines is filtered through a pseudo-scientific-new-age-anti-civilization perspective, he does have some interesting things to say about the Dreamtime, and aboriginal conceptions of time and space.

Lawlor, Robert. Voices of the First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime. Inner Traditions, 1991.

Wise Women of the Dreamtime, edited by Johanna Lambert

This is a collection of Australian aboriginal tales and myths originally collected and transcribed by Katie Langloh Parker. The tales describe events from the Dreamtime, the creation epoch from which all societal codes and practices originate. The volume includes commentary by Lambert.

Lambert, Johanna, ed. Wise Women of the Dreamtime: Aboriginal Tales of the Ancestral Powers. Park Street Press, 1993.

Writers Dreaming, edited by Naomi Epel

The subtitle says it all: 26 writers talk about the role of dreams in the creative process. The authors include Stephen King, Maya Angelou, and William Styron.

Epel, Naomi, ed. Writers Dreaming: 26 Writers Talk About Their Dreams and the Creative Process. Random House, 1995.

At Day's Close: Night in Times Past by Roger Ekirch

A cultural history of the pre-industrial Western night, Ekirch’s study explores the origins of deeply-held associations between darkness, fear, and evil, while detailing our ancestors’ nocturnal activities: sleep, labor, crime, and carousing.

Read a related article online: "Sleep We Have Lost: Pre-Industrial Slumber in the British Isles.  The American Historical Review.  106: 2.  (April 2001).  

Ekirch, A. Roger. At Day's Close: Night in Times Past. W.W. Norton, 2005.

The Wilderness of Dreams by Kelly Bulkeley

In this history of dream interpretation, Bulkeley argues that dreams constitute the chief source of “root metaphors”—the metaphors that express our “ultimate existential concerns.”

Bulkeley, Kelly. The Wilderness of Dreams: Exploring the Religious Meaning of Dreams in Modern Western Culture. SUNY Series in Dream Studies. SUNY Press, 1994.

The Wilderness of Dreams: Exploring the Religious Meanings of Dreams in Modern Western Culture (S U N Y Series in Dream Studies)

Visions of the Night by Kelly Bulkeley

A leading scholar in dream studies, Bulkeley makes fascinating connections between ancient religious and cultural beliefs about dreams and modern scientific research.

Bulkeley, Kelly. Visions of the Night: Dreams, Religion, and Psychology. SUNY Series in Dream Studies. SUNY Press, 1999.

Dreams: A Reader on Religious, Cultural, and Psychological Dimensions of Dreaming, edited by Kelly Bulkeley

Scholars in anthropology, psychology, neurology, and religious studies contributed essays to this volume which provides an overview of various—and conflicting--theories and beliefs about dreaming.

Bulkeley, Kelly, ed. Dreams: A Reader on Religious, Cultural, and Psychological Dimensions of Dreaming. Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.

Daughters of the Dreaming by Diane Bell

Bell studied the lives of Australian Aboriginal Women while living among them. She asserts that it is women who maintain the rituals and law of the Dreamtime, the ancient time of creation.

Bell, Diane. Daughters of the Dreaming. Spinifex Press, 2001.

Nana by Emile Zola

One of literature’s most famous courtesans, Nana embodies the moral, social, and political degradation of late-19th century France. And she’s dead sexy too. As the novel chronicles her rise and fall in Parisian society, it is also determined to “lay her bare,” so to speak. But Nana, whether nearly nude on the stage, or especially asleep in her bed, manages to elude complete depiction.

READ THE NOVEL ONLINE (IN FRENCH)

Check out a Print Version:

(English) Zola, Emile. Nana. Penguin, 1972.

(French) Zola, Emile. Nana. Paris: Bookking International, 1993.

La Faute de l’Abbé Mouret [The Sin of Father Mouret] by Emile Zola

Young Serge Mouret suffers a nervous breakdown in the midst of his intense Marian devotion. When he awakens, with no memory of his priestly life, he finds himself in the middle of a vast forest, in the care of a young girl. In many ways a twist on the Sleeping Beauty myth, Zola’s early novel depicts Serge’s rehabilitation and awakening to desire.

READ THE NOVEL ONLINE (in FRENCH)

Check out a Print Version:

(English) Zola, Emile. Abbé Mouret’s Transgression. Ed. Ernest lfred Vizetelly. BiblioBazaar, 2007.

(French) Zola, Emile. La Faute de l’abbé Mouret. [The Sin of Father Mouret]. Ed. Philippe Hamon. Paris: Fasquelle, 1985.

L’Assommoir by Emile Zola

There are two things that Gervaise wants in life: a husband who doesn’t beat her and a place to sleep. When her brutish husband takes up drinking, Gervaise unravels under the financial and emotional strain. She too turns to alcohol. A brutal portrayal of working-class life in 19th-century Paris, L’Assommoir suggests that sleep has become a scarce commodity in the recently industrialized world.

READ THE NOVEL ONLINE

Check out a Print Version:

(English) Zola, Emile. L’Assommoir [The Dram Shop]. Tran. Robin Buss. Penguin Classics, 2001.

(French) Zola, Emile. L’Assommoir. Paris: Garnier Flammarion, 1997.