In Dreams

In Paris, Montreal, Seville, Berlin and towns large and small, Diane Meur has dreamt—and she has remembered her dreams. In this small volume, the author shares her dreams of the years 2008–10, a time of global upheaval that happened to coincide with upheavals in her own life. As she writes in the preface, “They are not my life, they are not my writing, they are just the dreams I had, remembered, and noted down: all of them, and every part of them, without censure or omission.”

Some dreams are humorous: peeling a scorpion like a shrimp and finding it isn’t half bad; some are poignant: a tiny doll-like baby encountered in a train. And, as in many dreams, there is much anxiety: old boyfriends encountered again; children in distress; unusual, threatening spaces and people. Though dreamt by the author, Meur’s dreams share a common human intimacy—in them, we recognise our own innermost thoughts, concerns, desires, and fears.

Accompanied by the otherworldly illustrations of collage artist Sunandini Banerjee, Meur’s dreams come alive, inspiring our own reveries and becoming part of our nocturnal imaginings.