Behind Closed Eyes: Literature and Dreams

Paper Summary:

This paper explores how different types of personal space exist and are also created, both by society as a whole and by private individuals, focusing on personal spaces that allow for the suspension of reality and the experience of temporary freedom from time and death. The writer explains how through both literature and the world of dreams and fantasy it is possible to escape from the fears and letdowns of reality. However, the problem with both literature and dreams is that it is difficult to find a structured space that is free from contortion. Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," as well as the Disney film version of his story, the movie "Waltz with Bashir," and some of Edgar Allan Poe's tales, are used as examples to show how space in dreams, in memory, and in the mind can be nightmarish and distorted.

From the Paper:

"When we leave the world of the tangible, it becomes harder to define ourselves by the space around us. Spaces that can be defined as sacred, profane, public, private and personal no longer apply because all space lies in the realm of the imagination. Despite this being a world of the imagination, there are still certain criteria that defines the space and sets up the potential for possibility. In the moment that we are captivated within a dream or a piece of literature, we can only exist within ourselves and within our own creation. Throughout history, intolerance and hatred of others has brought about the need to define space and define those who are allowed to be a part of it. All around, these conventional borders exist and are meant to separate the "other" and it is too often that there is a sense of placeless-ness because there is no one space that can be regarded as belonging to a person. Perhaps this is why such spaces like that of literature, dreams and imagination need to be created. In this world, unnatural borders do not exist and the body can be released from conventionality."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barnes and Noble, Inc., ed. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006.
• Blacktreemedia. (2008). "Waltz with Bashir, 1st Animated Documentary will be a shoe in for an Oscar Nod. - Trailer in iHD." [Video] Retrieved May 18, 2009 from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLkwfsFzrJw.
• Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London: Penguin Classics, 1998.

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