Hervey de Saint-Denys
Hervey de Saint-Denys, known in his lifetime mainly as a Sinologist, published an anonymous book in 1867: Les rêves et les moyens de les diriger: "Dreams and how to direct them". His dream-theories are empirical, grounded in years of dreamwork including experiments with sleep stimuli; a bit like his contemporary Alfred Maury, but with no mechanistic preconceptions. He felt plenty of dreams didn't come from physical stimuli but from chains of associated ideas--quite modern in this respect. He's the earliest European I know ever to describe and advocate lucid dreaming, but this was just one aspect of his pragmatic work.
After just a small run, his publisher failed and the book got hard to find. Freud wrote "...d'Hervey, whose book I could not lay hands on in spite of all my efforts". A shame--if he'd had to confront Saint-Denys, Freudian theory might have been more evidence-based! Thanks to a 2021 translation by Daniel Bernardo, Saint-Denys is finally readable in English. And he's worth it, especially the third part, containing his dreams.
RELATED TOPICS: more 19th Century dreamworkers: Alfred Maury: Guillotine & Bridge-guard - Henri Agassiz: Fish - Catherine Paton: Axe of Death - Anna Kingsford - Havelock Ellis - Frederick Greenwood's Skylight, Her Hand on the Mantel & He has Repented - William Hammond - early Carl Jung -- See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
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CAT AND MOUSE: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, early 1860s?, a startling dream image A lab. The cat doesn't mind a swim in this liquid harmlessly rendering it clear as glass. It catches a transparent mouse I didn't even see! So now I faintly see a glass mouse inside the glass cat... |
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COCKEREL: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1846, a comic transformation dream I meet King Louis-Philippe, but as I recall his symbol, the cockerel, he transforms to suit. Now he cannot read the letter presented to him, so it becomes a basket of bird-seed... |
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CRYPTOMNESIC SHOP: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, c.1839, an early cryptomnesic dream A charming street, a peculiar shop... imaginary, or not? Saint-Denys found it at last, years later, in Frankfurt where he hadn't been since childhood... |
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DREAM FIGURES: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, dreamlets between 1835 & 1865? Why do I treat dream-figures as real people, even in otherwise lucid dreams? And if dreams universally suspended disbelief, how did I know, in one recent dream, that the woman I argued with was another part of me? |
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HER DEAD BROTHER: by a Bereaved Lady, as told by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1850s? Saint-Denys pushes a strange theory of dream-incompetence, using as an example a woman's dream of grief over her brother, killed in a war. But her case suggests a second explanation a 19th-century scholar isn't equipped to see ... |
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OUT OF BODY TO THE MOON: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1860?-67? Early out-of-body dream I rise out of my body, find I'm invulnerable, visit the moon, with its volcanic rocks, re-enter my body, "wake" and write the dream--only to wake again and find all my notes gone!... |
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PERFUMES: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, early 1860s? Experiments in scent-triggered dreams I trained myself to associate one scent with the mountains, one with an art studio. On a random night my servant applied both secretly, and I dreamt artist & model burst into a mountain scene... |
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PRODROMAL DREAMLETS: by Arnaud de Villeneuve, c.1300; Conrad Gessner, 1565/12/8; M. Teste, 1830-1848, and Maurice Macario, early 1850s? four dreams predicting illness Dog bites doctor's leg. Snake bites scholar's chest. Apoplexy kills a government minister. Tonsillitis flattens a sleep and dream researcher... |
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SYLVIA, OR, PUN-DREAMS: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, early 1860s? 4 dreams of French puns A comet grows hair, a girl named Rosalie becomes a bed of roses, writing in a beautiful hand appears on a beautiful hand, and Sylvia becomes a talking forest bird... |
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TINGLE: by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, c.Sept. 1825, a dream of Good Vibrations I experienced a delicious tembling throughout my being, sweeping up from my toes to my head. It shook me to the marrow of my bones... |
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TWO RESCUES: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1836 & '60-66?, early genderbent dreams A TAILOR'S APPRENTICE: I become her to fight back against his abuse... DAMSEL ON THE PYRE: I become a girl being burned alive, but get so distracted by my beautiful body I forget to escape until it's too... |
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YATAGHAN: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, c.1840?, a dream of rescue--and summoning Night street. Two masked assassins attack a woman. I intervene. But I need a weapon! I picture the Turkish sword on my mantel. The yataghan appears in my hand and I... |
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