Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Nine Theses on Dreaming Part 2 Self, Psyche, and Dreaming Chapter 3 Evolutionary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Dreaming and Social Life Chapter 4 Theoretical Perspectives on the Socialized Self Chapter 5 Losing or Multiplying the Self via Dreams or Trance Chapter 6 Joseph, Freud, and the Judaic Tradition Part 7 Interpreting and Misinterpreting Dreams: Freud Brings Dreams into Biomedicine Chapter 8 Coca, Hypnotism, and the Return of the Primitive Chapter 9 Who are the Irmas? What are their Narratives? Chapter 10 Lost in a Strange City: Dora's Dreams; Freud's Fantasies Part 11 Conclusions Chapter 12 Dreams within Human Group Life: Western Rationality and the Angel of Dreams Chapter 13 Appendix: The Magic of Learning and Teaching

About the Author

Murray L. Wax is professor emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis.

Reviews

Drawing on his broad interdisciplinary education in fields ranging from anthropology to psychoanalysis, Professor Wax sets out on a bold, independent course to counter the biases of authoritarianism and a reductionist pragmatism. In the process, he writes a bold, provocative study that explores dreaming as a symbolic activity that plays a central role in the evolution of the human being and his social relationships.
*Patrick J. Mahoney*

Wax will persuade even the most skeptical reader that dreams, those seemingly most private of experiences, are in fact eminently social—indeed, that to dream is to be human. A moving book about who we are, who we dream we might be.
*Alma Gottlieb, Alma Gottlieb, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign*

A lengthy bibliography and a helpful index add to the value of this work for graduates through faculty and for professionals.
*CHOICE*

The author's academic background is impressive. Wax's critique of Freud's narrowness and his abusive errors in technique are well done.
*Journal Of Trauma and Dissociation*

For anyone who thinks about or works with dreams, especially clinicians wanting to break out of dogmatic molds, Professor Wax’s book is a delight and an inspiration. Refracted through his multiple intelligences—sociological, anthropological, and psychoanalytic—the dream becomes a way into the soul of the dreamer, his inner and social world.
*Jonathan Cohen, M.D.*