A Presentation of the English Department's
William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series.
Dr. Ryan Friesen, English Department faculty member, will continue the English Department's 2012-2013 William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled "'A consummation devoutly to be wished': Observations on sleep and dreams in Agrippa's philosophy, Shakespeare's plays, and Lovecraft's horror." Today, when we ask "Why did I dream that?" we likely mean "What does it say about me that my brain authored that dream?" However, in the early modern works Dr. Friesen will examine, characters asking "Why did I dream that?" are more likely to mean "How did that dream end up in my head? Where, outside of me, did it come from, and why?" Comparing the insights of twentieth and twenty-first century science to the early modern understanding of sleep and dreaming in order to better comprehend this biological "constant," Dr. Friesen will focus on dreams described in literature as mundane, non-mystical, non-prophetic experiences related to the inner life of the dreamer. These dreams, having originated within the dreamer, provide the closest functional overlap with our time period's perspectives on the dreaming phenomena. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 19th, in 113 Wimberly Hall. The event is free and open to the public. To arrange for disability accommodations, contact [email protected] or call 785-8295.