"No relation of a dream can convey the dream sensation, the commingling of absurdity, surprise and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams ... we live as we dream, alone." Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad.
3 comments:
You have inspired me to read The Heart of Darkness...I read a precis - do you recommend it? I looked up the Tana Toraja people you made reference to. They must be a very interesting group. How did you end up there?
The novel I am currently reading
'The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' by David Mitchel centres on the Dutch East Indies Co plying the trade routes (that word again) between Nagasaki and Indonesia. Japan at that time was closed to foreigners so that the company reps had to live and work on a tiny island joined to the shore by a bridge.
Dreams are a mystery...a perfect opening post for into the mystic...As our dear old friend Dr Sigmund said, they are the Royal road to the unconscious...I am more partial to Carl's views of dreams:
"Jung attributed extraordinary significance to the end of dream. The end of dream is so important, Jung held, because we cannot consciously influence on the outcome (i.e. change the end), and dreams so reflect the real situation. "Nature is often obscure or impenetrable, but she is not, like man, deceitful. We must therefore take it that the dream is just what it pretends to be, neither more nor less."
I am sorry to put a little dampner on today's euphoria but your Shelfari won't open...and I can't get to see the famous four books...
I suggest you take it off and try again another day.
Happy days
I have removed Shelfari as per your advice and will give it another go at a later date. 'Heart of Darkness' was one of the books I studied at USC; the 'river' is the lifeblood of the narrative which is rich with symbolism. Marlowe's journey into the African Congo from London is a journey into the unknown; a journey of self discovery. Fantastic imagery and language. Call out if you do decide to tackle this novel and you would like my notes.
Tanah Torajah or the Land of the Heavenly Souls is a wonderful ten hour bus trip from Makassar now known as Ujung Pandang, capital of Sulawesi. I took Georgia there because I was really interested in the culture, especially the funeral ritual and I had always wanted to see the Tau Tau, the ancestral figures or effigies that stand on balconies hollowed out of the rock high on the cliffs. Fascinating place.
It has been said that madness and dreaming are only a higher form of reason. Edgar Allan Poe "Science has not yet told us whether madness may not be the sublime form of intelligence." And " having come to this notion of dreams affording man a communication with the world of spirits, I hoped ..." From 'The Fantastic' by Todorov.
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