Another dream: _Late at night in a big garden. Many people about to take
their leave after an afternoon spent in irrelevant gossip. My parents
were also among those present. My father was in a hurry to get to town.
He leaves. It is very dark. Presently a station bell, the whistle of a
locomotive. I shout into the night’s darkness not knowing whether any
one hears me or not: he is lucky! He is just in time to catch the train.
And I think of following in an hour. I am very tired. I am happy in my
bed at home._
_Sunny afternoon in a poor quarter of a suburb. Under a window of an
apartment window there are a number of tin vessels which I know, belong
to the woman above. An elderly woman is preoccupied with the vessels,
holding each vessel up to the light, as if testing them, but I know that
she is merely awaiting the opportunity to run off with them. A window is
raised in the neighboring house, a woman calls out to the woman living
in the apartment under whose window the vessels are lying, to watch out
for the stranger. By that time I myself am standing in the owner’s room.
She is just putting on her best toilette. The warning neighbor appears
and scolds the vain woman who on account of her vanity neglects to watch
out for her things._
Addition: _I was in the next room. The woman had a little girl with her.
I held my penis in hand pursued the two and wanted them to take it in
their hand; and thus the ejaculation...._
_The woman’s hands disgusted me because they were dirty._
This is hardly the place for a complete analysis of the whole dream. The
first part, the falling into a deep basin is a hypnagogic vision and
represents the process of falling asleep, the descent into the depths of
primordial man. The rapidly passing automobile, the danger. The
representation of Tristan refers to a great passion for a queen.
_Schœnbrunn_, the former Kaiser’s summer residence, refers to the
parental home. Isolde is also a queen, who is lost forever for Tristan.
Is it not rather remarkable that he should dream of Tristan and Isolde,
the quintessential epic of heterosexual love? And does not the
cancellation correspond precisely to his cryptic wish? The thought of a
fall into the depths is continually recurring as well as the inhibitions
about things not holding out (hence the steadying with the feet for
support). The man in evening dress represents the love of a modern
cultural man in contrast with a Tristan. He himself is Tristan, the
onlooker and the singing _Einjährig-Freiwillige_. Finally another
picture: parting, _i.e._, his father’s death: “He was lucky.” What is
the meaning of that? He has caught the train on time! Recalling that in
one of his previous dreams the subject was unable to catch the electric
car, we understand that his father found time to attain his aim,—a
tempo—while he himself is late. We shall be informed presently about the
meaning of this aim. And back of all inhibitions another picture breaks
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account