Monday, September 26, 2005
In Dreams
So last night I had a dream that I woke up, and there was a raccoon walking around on my bed, and then it stood up like a bear. Then I really woke up. I think that's the kind of dream that unsettles me most, one that blurs the sleeping/waking distinction.
It also got me thinking about writers and other creative people who write about the reality/perception line, about what you think is real not being what's actually real, or even what you think is real having the power to affect reality or being its own reality. What's real and what's not.
One of my favorite science fiction authors, Philip K. Dick, has that sort of theme winding through virtually every one of his stories. An alternate history in which the Axis won WWII, a drug that makes you experience an existence controlled by the drug's maker, androids that appear human, implanted memories. He was a diagnosed schizophrenic, so it's not entirely surprising.
A lot of movie directors/screenwriters consistently go that way too: Terry Gilliam, David Fincher, Charlie Kaufman. Of those, Kaufman is too slight for me, and Fincher is too pompously nihilistic. Gilliam seems like another who may have mental issues given his movies: The Fisher King, Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys, and now The Brothers Grimm.
There are tons of poets who touch on these issues too, but I realized I couldn't think of that many who seem so dedicated to it, which surprises me given the number of poets with mental problems around. The closest thing I came up with was Berryman's Dream Songs (no shock there). I also see some of that in Stevens, Yeats, and Blake, but it's not so pervasive. Any others I'm missing here?
It also got me thinking about writers and other creative people who write about the reality/perception line, about what you think is real not being what's actually real, or even what you think is real having the power to affect reality or being its own reality. What's real and what's not.
One of my favorite science fiction authors, Philip K. Dick, has that sort of theme winding through virtually every one of his stories. An alternate history in which the Axis won WWII, a drug that makes you experience an existence controlled by the drug's maker, androids that appear human, implanted memories. He was a diagnosed schizophrenic, so it's not entirely surprising.
A lot of movie directors/screenwriters consistently go that way too: Terry Gilliam, David Fincher, Charlie Kaufman. Of those, Kaufman is too slight for me, and Fincher is too pompously nihilistic. Gilliam seems like another who may have mental issues given his movies: The Fisher King, Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys, and now The Brothers Grimm.
There are tons of poets who touch on these issues too, but I realized I couldn't think of that many who seem so dedicated to it, which surprises me given the number of poets with mental problems around. The closest thing I came up with was Berryman's Dream Songs (no shock there). I also see some of that in Stevens, Yeats, and Blake, but it's not so pervasive. Any others I'm missing here?
Today has not been the best, but I'm handling it surprisingly well. So far today I've
- found out that someone tried to charge $2500 on one of my credit cards with a furniture store in Utah.
- gotten a mysterious splinter in my hand that hurt like crazy when I typed until I dug it out.
- received another rejection (albeit from another top-tier place).
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"Fled is that music; do I wake or sleep?"
So Keats (also see: La Belle Dame Sans Merci; Eve of Ste. Agnes; Hyperion; and others). Shakespeare too (whether gentle, like in Midsummer Night's Dream or The Tempest, or ferocious, like in Hamlet or Macbeth; and others (like Richard III)) of course.
Oh, John Haines comes to mind, randomly. Rilke. Dickinson. I'm sure many others.
But yeah, contemporary? I know what you mean.
So Keats (also see: La Belle Dame Sans Merci; Eve of Ste. Agnes; Hyperion; and others). Shakespeare too (whether gentle, like in Midsummer Night's Dream or The Tempest, or ferocious, like in Hamlet or Macbeth; and others (like Richard III)) of course.
Oh, John Haines comes to mind, randomly. Rilke. Dickinson. I'm sure many others.
But yeah, contemporary? I know what you mean.
Frank Stanford. You can navigate your way to some of his poetry on The Gazebo, but his opusm The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You is exactly what you describe.
Justin: Ah, yes, Stanford--I knew I was forgetting someone. Incidentally, Aaron Anstett, who was the other reader for the set of poems you sent for the Muse, compared the poem we ended up taking to Stanford.
Jeannine: Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not familiar with Susan Musgrave at all but will try to find out more.
Jeannine: Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not familiar with Susan Musgrave at all but will try to find out more.
Denise Levertov is another poet who comes to mind right away who wrote in dream territory a lot, and/or with dreams or the dream world as subject matter or setting. Also, I want to say, Robert Duncan, though I've read less of Duncan.
And H.D., especially her book-length Helen in Egypt.
And, coming at it a little differently, the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer. And probably others if I thought about it for a little while.
Federico Garcia Lorca, especially in the Romancero Gitano (the "Gypsy Ballads").
There's a wonderful book, The Moon and the Virgin by Nor Hall (published originally in the '70's, reissued in the early '90's, currently out of print I think), which explores dream and myth from a generally Jungian perspective (the author is a Jungian analyst, among other things), using poetry throughout to illustrate ideas and concepts in the book.
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And H.D., especially her book-length Helen in Egypt.
And, coming at it a little differently, the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer. And probably others if I thought about it for a little while.
Federico Garcia Lorca, especially in the Romancero Gitano (the "Gypsy Ballads").
There's a wonderful book, The Moon and the Virgin by Nor Hall (published originally in the '70's, reissued in the early '90's, currently out of print I think), which explores dream and myth from a generally Jungian perspective (the author is a Jungian analyst, among other things), using poetry throughout to illustrate ideas and concepts in the book.
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