The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

 This feels very weird to be writing my final blog post (in terms of readings) of the semester. It feels like I was just beginning to read these new kinds of books I had never read before, and now here I am reading my last one. 

This week I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers. And not only does the title directly point out a major theme but the book itself clearly highlights the most common theme we've seen throughout this course, dreams. 

Although I feel myself being a little repetitive discussing dreams in every blog post, this one would feel wrong to not discuss it. While reading this book, I found myself consistently thinking about my own dreams, especially when Daniel Benchimol finds the camera in the water as the woman he sees in the pictures is someone he has seen before in his dreams. 

I was glad to see that this was also brought up in this weeks lecture on the book because it helped me dig even deeper into the thoughts I was having while reading. It's an interesting concept because I am someone who dreams a lot, and I know other people who never dream (or at least can't remember them). I always wonder what this means and I also always wonder who these "characters"are that are appearing in my dreams.. Are they real people and I just do not know it? And if they aren't, how is my mind creating completely fictional people if I have never seen them before? 

I also enjoyed the idea of Freuds take on dreams mentioned in the lecture as well. Freud states that "dreams are derived from the past in every sense".. which is interesting to think about considering Daniel Benchimol is dreaming of people he has never met, how is that possible? I think the same thing for myself. 

Overall, the only struggle I had with this book was not having enough knowledge on the historical contexts taking place, but it was good to be educated on something new, as I usually am each week with our readings. Which bring me to mention that war has also been a common we have been seeing in our readings lately. Other than that (which isn't really a bad thing at all), I enjoyed this novel a lot despite there being a lot going on, I managed to grasp the concepts a good amount and considering we have read so much involving dreams. 

I feel as though I have become an expert at differentiating between what is a dream and what is reality (although still a little hard to tell sometimes I won't lie). But that is what keeps me invested in reading, I love the back and fourth between the two states. 


Comments

  1. DaisyApril 6, 2022 at 2:24 PM

    Hi Sidney! I loved your discussion about dreams. I think it is very cool how so many texts in this class have had themes of dreams/dreaming and has certainly made me think a little more about the way I dream myself. To answer your question, I often have dreams that foreshadow things that happen later on in life. Typically things that I am putting energy towards thinking about, but nonetheless - the future. Daniel's is different i suppose as its not something he can really imagine ..(i feel like its impossible to picture people you have never seen??) Its a super cool question though, thanks :)

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  2. Vidushi SinghApril 6, 2022 at 4:49 PM

    Hey Sidney,
    You make some interesting points that I find myself relating to. I dream a lot too, in fact, I keep a record of some of the weird dreams that I have. Usually after waking up I will remember all the details so I quickly jot them down in my notes app. Most of the times, I will dream about people I know in real life, but I can recall a few where I dream about people that I'm unaware of. I've never seen their face but I do see a new face in my dreams. it always makes me confused and upon reading this book, I realized that maybe that's a common thing that happens to others. Actually, Snowflake says something to Hossi which really stuck to me, she says "If your dreams still make any sense after you’ve woken up, maybe that’s because you haven’t woken up yet," and reading this reassured me a lot!
    - Vidushi Singh

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