The Dream in Russian Literature

From the days of antiquity interpretations have been offered for dreams. Through the ages man has searched for the meaning of those mystic figures found in dream life. Joseph attained much fame in Bible lore for his skilful explanation of dreams. Psychologists have tried to explain the dream on a scientific basis and have offered many hypotheses. Experiments were conducted and the results, though frequently divergent, seemed satisfactory, but many salient points were left unexplained. However, the work of many of these men was eventually utilized by Freud and in his extensive study of dream literature (1) he carefully analyzes the results they attained. Many of these workers who are cited by Freud presented formulas which very nearly approached the truth. Maury (2) stated, “We dream of the things we have seen, said, desired, or done.” Had his formula been more concise he would have more nearly approached the truth. Schemer (3) also came near the truth when he worked on the symbolic material in dreams and for this he has been given due credit by Freud. But after all we are indebted to Freud for having established the interpretation of dreams on a sound scientific basis.

No reference has been found in Freud's work to the use of the dream in Russian literature. I shall endeavor to show the prominent position the dream plays in the work of Russian writers and that the material is handled differently in every way from that in any other literature. Russia is a country rich in legends, fairy tales, folklore, and myths. This it has in common with the surrounding countries and in fact with all peoples the world over, as has been shown by Ricklin (4). With the repressions incident