Literary dreams of animals within the framework of psychoanalysis. The case of dogs. A comparative study
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: The main objective of the article is to compare two short stories: “Dog’s Dream” by Stefan Flukowski and “Waiting for the Dog to Dream” by Jerzy Ficowski. The element that both narratives have in common, as their titles indicate, is the question of their onirism. This is especially evident in Flukowski’s story, which almost in its entirety is a record of a “literary dream of psychoanalysis” (to use Inga Iwasiów’s phrase). The short story represents a fascination with Sigmund Freud, common to many writers of the interwar period, especially when it comes to his “Interpretation of Dreams.” Yet, an additional difficulty for the author of this article is the fact that the main characters of these stories – those who dream – are animals, i.e. dogs. This type of a narrative experiment demands an interpretative transgression beyond literary studies, towards natural sciences. The study includes many references to such disciplines as neurobiology, aetiology and evolutionary cognitive science.
Source: Rocznik Komparatystyczny
Author: Piotr Krupiński
Institution: University of Szczecin
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4407104227