The Universal Dream Key

February 26, 2001

Drawing upon the works of psychologist Carl Jung, structuralist Claude Lévi-Strauss and folklorist Vladimir Propp, Garfield (Creative Dreaming), who cofounded the Association for the Study of Dreams, believes that all dreams—despite significant differences in dreamers and their cultures—fall into 12 archetypes. Most are common, easily recognizable narratives ("Being Chased or Attacked," "Falling or Drowning" and "Being Lost or Trapped"), though a few may be less familiar to Western readers ("Being Menaced by a Spirit"). Each "negative" dream has a corresponding positive or healing version, such as "Being Well Dressed" instead of "Being Naked in Public or Inappropriately Dressed" or "Fine Performance" rather than "Poor Test or Other Poor Performance." While it may seem reductive to limit dreams to 12 categories, Garfield acknowledges the biological and cultural influences on dream symbolism while taking pains to reiterate how every dream has a personal dimension specific to the dreamer. Most of her insights are commonsensical and unsurprising ("Making love in your dream = Wish to connect with waking person or quality of that person"), though readers who are willing to undertake the dozens of dream exercises Garfield offers will undoubtedly wrest new insights from their subconscious minds. (Mar.) Forecast: Though Garfield's workmanlike style may strip dreams of their magic for some readers, she knows how to reach her core audience (her last book sold 250,000 copies). A 25-city radio tour will help ensure that word spreads about Ms. Sandman's bag of tricks for deciphering dreams.

March 1, 2001
Everyone has nightmares of being chased, of missing an exam, or of being naked in public. Many have enjoyed the opposite dreams of flying, performing flawlessly, or wearing special and beautiful clothing. Garfield, cofounder of the Association for the Study of Dreams and the author of Creative Dreaming, here examines these reveries and others, having decided that they are the most "universal" according to responses to an Internet-based survey. While this claim is suspect the respondents are all computer-literate and hence well educated in Western technology the dreams are nonetheless surely common for the English-speaking public. While Garfield offers some interpretive rules, they are very broad and allow for idiosyncratic meaning (e.g., "Evil stranger chasing or attacking you in dream=Waking feeling of threat"). Readers are instructed in a general method of dream interpretation that stresses individual experience and the specific cultural meaning of dream motifs. If your public library is well stocked with titles by this author, Gayle Delaney, and Robert Bosnak and money is tight, this book is optional. On the other hand, books on dreams seem to be perennially popular, so mid-size and large public libraries should consider adding. Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.