The Dream in Western Culture

Overview

THE DREAM IN WESTERN CULTURE is an anthropological and historical investigation of conceptions of the dream (its meanings, connections with other ideas, and uses) in Western culture from Greco-Roman times to the present. Originally published under the title DREAM AND CULTURE: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE WESTERN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION, the second edition includes two additional chapters that provide biographical information about the author’s introduction to dream studies in the sleep lab of Allan Hobson and Fred Snyder at the National Institutes of Health during the 1960s, and how, during her career as an anthropologist and writer, she applied this experience to an understanding of play, creativity, and poetry.

Author Biography

Susan Parman is Professor emerita of Anthropology and an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist, fiction writer, and artist. She conducted research in the Gaelic-speaking Outer Hebrides and is the author of SCOTTISH CROFTERS, EUROPE IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL IMAGINATION, and (with Jacob Pandian) THE MAKING OF ANTHROPOLOGY: THE SEMIOTICS OF SELF AND OTHER IN THE WESTERN TRADITION. Her articles have appeared in The American Anthropologist, Folklore, Ethnos, Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, Museum Anthropology, and Cross-Cultural Research. She is also the author of two books of poetry.