In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, one of the characters has a heavily symbolic dream, and the narrator says something like, “Don’t you hate it when you have dreams that are so obvious?”
Speaking of obvious, obviously it’s easier to make up those kind of dreams for fictional characters. But I can’t hate on Junot Diaz: I have obvious dreams all the time and I do hate them.
I had one this morning, and I’m still a bit shaken by it. I won’t get into details, mostly because other people’s dreams are always boring. But the dream left me feeling like something in my life was about to change. Of course, it was just my subconscious hoping that something would.
Along with being literary devices of dubious merit, obvious dreams stir up a lot of feeling. What happens isn’t real, but the emotions that come out still are. And what are you supposed to do then? Where’s the someecard for “you were a total jerk in my subconscious”?
March 22, 2008 at 7:26 am |
[...] for Atlantic City. (In the dream, no one called me about going to Atlantic City. My subconscious is so obvious.) At first it was really awkward, because he gave me this look, like I know you and you’ve [...]
April 9, 2008 at 7:31 am |
[...] Dreams, Easy Choices The obvious works in literature because sometimes life is obvious, too. Occasionally, I’m presented with options [...]
May 6, 2008 at 7:50 pm |
[...] I had a dream last night that I spent the past three weeks working on a single batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. For one, I don’t even like those peanut butter based cookies. For two, even in the dream, I was like, “I can’t believe I just spent three weeks baking cookies.” For three, yes, Junot Diaz, I hate obvious dreams. [...]
December 30, 2008 at 11:18 am |
[...] the craft, but his writing is on such a higher level that he’s impossible to steal from. Earlier: Brief and Wondrous Dreams, ‘Your Adoring Audience Is Clamoring For More Heavy-Handed Sarcastic Wit And [...]
December 31, 2009 at 11:55 am |
[...] Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz – @, ® Earlier: Brief and Wondrous Dreams, ‘Your Adoring Audience Is Clamoring For More Heavy-Handed Sarcastic Wit And [...]
February 21, 2010 at 10:15 pm |
[...] suggests I reconnect with, but I actually travel with and see regularly—says my dreams are like parodies. I hate driving and sometimes my life feels out of control. And as for the Subconscious Guest Star: [...]