Dream Writing: for Memory & Arts Sake Esther Altshul Helfgott, Instructor: 206-527-8875; eahelfgott2@attbi.com Hugo House, Sat. 1-3 pm; July 15-Aug 12, 2000 Syllabus Dreams tell a story.  No matter what you discover about the characteristics and make up of dreams, the most important fact to remember is that they are telling you a story.  That is their relationship to memory, writing and art.  As you record your dreams, as you dissect them - fragment by fragment - you will develop a story that may be totally new to you; certainly it will be new to your readers.  Or, you may learn that your story is one that  you are now re-remembering.  Whatever the case, let your unconscious be your guide.  Your unconscious, that place, yes, let us call it a place, as if it were a country different from the one your conscious self resides in during the day and night. Dreams are written and artistic compositions.  (Yes, yours are, too!) Remember in junior high school when you were told to write a composition and you just knew how boring it was going to be to sit down and write it?  Or when you were in art class and the art teacher assigned a composition for you to draw?  Well, let me tell you, dreams are not boring.  You will never be bored by them.  Scared, perhaps, and confused.  Most definitely.  But bored?  Never.  Not if you cultivate the ability to pay attention to them.  Here's how ... July 15: Introduction:  What are dreams made of? Discussion.  In-class writing exercise. Home assignment:  Record a dream, preferably as soon as you awaken; then draw it. Let this be the start of a Dream Journal. When you feel ready,  re-write a dream into another form, eg. poem, story, journalistic article, song. Try to record your dreams every day.  July 22:  What is the connection of dreams to memory and art? In-class writing exercise. Dream presentations.  Home assignment:  Draw a dream; then record it.  Read on dreams.  Work on your particular dream-to-art form. What language/culture are you dreaming in? Make a list of the characters in your dreams.  Whom do they represent? July 29: In-class writing exercise.  Dream presentations.  Home assignment: Record your dreams; make a collage of them. Read on dreams.  What colors are you dreaming in?  Make a list of them.  How many parts of you do you see in your dreams?  Do you find your parents there?  Your cousins?  Your siblings?  Your elementary school teachers? Aug 5: In-class writing exercise.  Dream presentations. Home assignment:  Put together a chap book of your dreams.  Read on dreams. What is the difference between day dreaming and sleep dreaming?  How many parts or scenarios occur in your dreams?  Do you see houses there, animals, streets, trains, food, babies ... ? Aug 12: In-class writing exercise. Dream presentations. Discussion:  What have dreams told you?  Has working with them helped your memory and your art?  Show off your chap books.  Give yourself a hand.  This has been hard work, and you did it. Mazel tov! Selected Bibliography Bona, Mary Jo, "Dream Poem," in Gillan, et al  Unsettling America:  An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry.  NY: Penguin, 1994, p. 33. Campbell, Joseph, ed. Myths, Dreams, and Religion.  NY: E.P.Dutton, 1970. DiPrima, Diane.  Dinners and Nightmares. NY: Corinth Books, 1974. Epel, Naomi. Writers Dreaming. NY: Random House, 1994. Freud, Sigmund. Interpretation of Dreams, 1900. Garma, Angel.  The Psychoanalysis of Dreams. NY: Delta, 1966. Hillman, James.  The Dream and the Underworld.  Harper, 1979. Jones, Ernest. On the Nightmare. NY: Liveright pb ed., 1971 Jouvet, Michel.  The Paradox of Sleep:  The Story of Dreaming, MIT Press, 1999. Jung,  Memories, Dreams and Reflections Kafka, Franz. Metamorphosis.  Toronto: Bantam Classic ed., 1981. King, Martin Luther.  I Had A Dream Koch, Kenneth and The Students of P.S. 61 in New York City. Wishes, Lies and Dreams:  Teaching Children To Write Poetry.  New York: Vintage, 1970. Lightman, Alan P. Einstein's Dreams. Warner, 1994. Moon, Sheila. A Woman's Dreams: An Analyst's Inner Journey. Boston: Sigo Press, 1983. Poe, Edgar Allan.  "A Dream within A Dream," in Complete Stories and Poems of  Edgar Allan Poe. New York:  Doubleday, 1966. Shakespeare, William.  A Midsummer Night's Dream. Sharpe, Ella. Dream Analysis.  New York: Bruner/Mazel, 1978. Thomas, D.M. Eating Pavlova. New York: Carroll & Graff Publishers, 1994. Wong, Nellie.  "Dreams in Harrison Railroad Park," in Unsettling America: pp. 4-5.