This beautiful dream unites so many of the characteristics of the dream
content which are problematic—the criticism made in the dream itself in
that I myself notice my mistake in having said “Non vixit” instead of
“Non vivit”; the unconstrained intercourse with dead persons, whom the
dream itself declares to be dead; the absurdity of the inference and the
intense satisfaction which the inference gives me—that “by my life” I
should like to give a complete solution of these problems. But in
reality I am incapable of doing this—namely, the thing I do in the
dream—of sacrificing such dear persons to my ambition. With every
revelation of the true meaning of the dream, with which I am well
acquainted, I should have been put to shame. Hence I am content with
selecting a few of the elements of the dream, for interpretation, some
here, and others later on another page.
The scene in which I annihilate P. by a glance forms the centre of the
dream. His eyes become strange and weirdly blue, and then he dissolves.
This scene is an unmistakable copy of one really experienced. I was a
demonstrator at the physiological institute, and began my service in the
early hours, and _Bruecke_ learned that I had been late several times in
getting to the school laboratory. So one morning he came promptly for
the opening of the class and waited for me. What he said to me was brief
and to the point; but the words did not matter at all. What overwhelmed
me was the terrible blue eyes through which he looked at me and before
which I melted away—as P. does in the dream, for P. has changed rôles
with him much to my relief. Anyone who remembers the eyes of the great
master, which were wonderfully beautiful until old age, and who has ever
seen him in anger, can easily imagine the emotions of the young
transgressor on that occasion.
But for a long time I was unable to account for the “Non Vixit,” with
which I execute sentence in the dream, until I remembered that these two
words possessed such great distinctness in the dream, not because they
were heard or spoken, but because they were _seen_. Then I knew at once
where they came from. On the pedestal of the statue of Emperor Joseph in
the Hofburg at Vienna, may be read the following beautiful words:
Saluti patriae _vixit
non_ diu sed totus.
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