Seminars meet each weekday morning, with afternoons free for course-related field trips, individual study, or exploring the many places of interest in and around the city.
Monday
Dreams of the Past: Mythologies are among our earliest forms of storytelling – and it is no coincidence sleep and dreaming played a central role in nearly every one of them. These ancient tales still shape the way we make sense of our unconscious. This section will explore the dreamscapes of ancient mythologies and folklore from around the world, and how they imagined what sleep was - and what dreams might reveal, and what ways of knowing they might make possible.
Tuesday
The philosophy of dreams: Shifting from folklore and mythology, we will look at how early philosophers conceptualised sleep. We will discover competing theories, in science, medicine, religion, and literature, and how they shapeshifted through the Middle Ages, into the Enlightenment. We will look at Dante’s Divine Comedy, Thomas More’s Utopia or Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene. How they shaped our understanding of dreams for much longer than we might think, and their direct influence on more modern ideas of dreaming, such as those of Brasenose men Thomas de Quincey (Confessions of an English Opium Eater), Robert Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy) and Walter Pater.
Wednesday
The stories of dreams – the “classics”: rediscovering the literary dreams well-known to us – from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to the Christmas Carol; we will explore the tensions between superstitions, myth, and the rise of natural philosophy, and eventually “science” that shaped them, and explore themes like mesmerism at their intersections. We will also discover how this period not only changed our understanding of the unconscious forever, but the important role literature played in shaping how we understand them.
Thursday
In-between worlds: Psychoanalysts like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, alongside dream-scientists and clinical neurologists, transitioned dreaming from superstition to scientific practice during a tumultuous century marked by war and trauma. Examining this era, we uncover how historical circumstances reshaped our understanding of the unconscious and dreaming, altering our self-perception and imposing new responsibilities. Delving into modern incarnations of utopian and dystopian dream narratives, from Slaughterhouse-Five to A Clockwork Orange, The Doors of Perception, and William Golding’s less-known novel The Spire, we also explore the influence on surrealist and other artistic expressions.
Friday
The future: In the modern world, dreams and the unconscious remain integral, impacting dream therapy and the treatment of psychological disorders. As technology and multimedia reshape our lives, we examine the evolving imagination and influence of dreams throughout this period. Delving into artistic and fictional realms, including graphic novels and video games attempting to grasp the essence of dreams, we unravel how these creative expressions aid scientists and medical practitioners in envisioning and reimagining dreams' role in modern societies. Despite being little understood, contested, and mythologized, dreams persist as a enduring phenomenon.
Field Trip
Destination: Walk to Treacle Well, St Margaret’s Church, Binsey
Excursion Rating: Moderate - up to two hours' walk on even ground or up to an hour's walk on rough and/or steep ground or up lots of stairs and steps.
