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Article: Dreaming in the Middle Ages.
- Article from:
- Medium Aevum
- Article date:
- September 22, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There are already many books about the history of Western attitudes to dreaming, and critical studies of dream poetry. This book has a narrower theme: the influence of late antique dream theory, especially schemes for classifying dreams hierarchically, on later mediaeval dream theory. Kruger makes this a history of asking questions about the provenance of dreams -- whether they come from inside the dreamer or a transcendent Beyond -- and about their significance, reliability and possible dangers.
His leitmotiv is the 'doubleness and middleness' of dreams: they are potentially transcendent and mundane, occupying a middle and mediating role in a hierarchical ...