The first unabridged English translation of a classic work on dreams by an author regarded as the father of lucid dreaming. First published anonymously in 1867, Dreams and How to Guide Them is the lost classic of lucid dreaming—that is, the art of becoming aware that one is dreaming and then continuing to dream, whether to fly, have erotic encounters, or just explore the dream world further. It has long been a rare and legendary work. Freud knew of it, but never managed to find a copy, and surrealist André Breton begins his own book The Communicating Vessels by discussing it This is the first complete English translation—there was a heavily abridged edition in 1982, much-loved and also rare—and it is now published to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hervey de Saint-Denys.
This new edition is edited and introduced by Phil Baker, who traces the author’s life and connects his work with Tibetan Buddhist dream practices, and surrealism, as well as to more recent research in lucid dreaming.
Reviews “The godfather of lucid dreaming.”—BBC “[H]igh among the poetic conquests of this past century, not far from those that illustrate, with Rimbaud as a model, the application of the principle of the poet necessarily provoking the perfect, the reasons ’disordering’of all his own sense.”—André Breton About the Authors The Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys (1822–1892) was a French sinologist also known for his research on dreams. He is today regarded as the father of lucid dreaming.
Phil Baker is a writer based in London. His books include The Devil Is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley, and Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of London's Lost Artist (Strange Attractor), called by Alan Moore “little short of marvelous.”
|
