Dreams, visions, and the rhetoric of authority

Kurzfassung/Abstract

"Dreams and visions in literature inherently suggest access to a divine or transcendent authority. Whether including a brief dream sequence within a larger narrative or framing a narrative within a dream, authors often depict the ultimate sources of their texts' dreams and visions as standing outside the rational mind of man. These dream elements inherently link literary texts to a powerful, "non-literary" tradition: "authentic" prophetic and visionary texts...apocalypses, corrective prophecies, mystical revelations...which often carry a greater sense of cultural authority than other forms of writing. In Dreams, Visions, and the Rhetoric of Authority, John Bickley explores the ways dreams and visions in literature function as authorizing devices, both affirming and complicating a text's authority. After providing a framework for categorizing the diverse genres and modes of dream and vision texts, Bickley demonstrates how the theme of authority and strategies for textual self-authorization play out in four highly influential works: the Book of Daniel, Macrobius's Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Love, and Chaucer's Hous of Fame." ...