Examentrainers

All your life you’re dreaming

Peter Parker tags along on some nocturnal excursions
The Tiger Garden: A Book of Writers’ Dreams edited by Nicholas Royle, Serpent’s Tail, £9.99

1		Asure way of making
		people’s eyes glaze over is
		to announce: ‘I had the
		most extraordinary dream last
		night’. Yet to the dreamer these
		nocturnal excursions are extra-
		ordinary. They both suggest a life
		beyond the commonplace and
		reveal imaginative powers many
		people would be unable to access
		when awake. Writers might be
		thought to have a particularly
		interesting library of dreams and,
		more importantly, ought to be able
		to recount them with skill.
2		Nicholas Royle had the clever				would be particularly good at				mankind together’ provides Royle
		idea of inviting over 200 writers to				dreams, but this proves not always				with an apt epigraph. It is
		send him accounts of their dreams.				to be the case.				reassuring to learn, for example,
		No one was paid and all royalties		3		In the wonderful introduction to				that even famous people dream of
		go to Amnesty International, an				Behold, this Dreamer!, his classic				famous people. Robert Browning,
		organisation which spends much of				1939 anthology of dreams and				Paul McCartney, Eric Cantona,
		its time attempting to alleviate				related subjects, Walter de la Mare				Tony Curtis, Anthony Burgess (with
		waking nightmares. ‘In a bid to				warned that ‘waking recollection’				boyfriend), Picasso and Dvorák
		retain the atmosphere of the dream,’				of a night’s travels into unknown				(duetting) and Salvador Dali all put
		he writes, ‘I have allowed those				realms ‘is difficult to translate into				in an appearance. Michael Carson
		dreams scribbled down in haste to				those obstinate and artificial				and Bernard MacLaverty dream of
		remain… as a result, there will be				symbols, words’. Some of Royle’s				royalty, while D.J. Taylor dreams of
		infelicities of language, there will				contributors (Nicholas Freeling,				A.S. Byatt, who is unable to return
		be syntactical shortcuts, there will				Giles Gordon) try too hard, some				the compliment, dreaming instead
		be liberties taken which these				hardly at all. Fortunately, others				of Iris Murdoch. (By way of
		writers would not dream of taking				have overcome the difficulty				compensation, Taylor appears in the
		in fiction.’ The problem with many				triumphantly. Desmond Hogan’s				dreams of the editor).
		contributions, however, is not that				recurring dream of Nazi persecution		5		Contributors relive unfortunate
		they have been dashed off but that				and ghostly children has been made				episodes from their past. Louis de
		they lack style.With some notable				into a beautifully shaped short				Bernières returns to Sandhurst;
		exceptions, there is not a great deal				story; Liza Cody’s vision of a				Jonathan Coe is still playing
		here that is interesting as writing.				hospital where the uniquely warm				keyboards with The Peer Group.
		This might not matter if all the				blood of Sephardic Jews is drained				Suspiciously few admit to any
		contributors were celebrated				into a central-heating system in				sexual episodes - not even Fiona
		figures: even the hastily scribbled				order to coddle the premature twins				Pitt-Kethley.
		dreams of Doris Lessing,Will Self,				of the Empress of China is very		6		‘Dreams, alas, resemble far too
		Christine Brooke-Rose, Michael				well recounted and authentically				frequently a tale told by an idiot’,
		Ondaatje, William Wharton and				bizarre; Patrick McGrath’s four				wrote de la Mare, ‘signifying even
		Hilary Mantel would be				sentences about falling into the				less than the literature he may
		worthwhile. There are many more				carcass of a chicken the size of a				reserve for his noonday.’ While The
		well-known writers here, but an				house is alone worth the cover				Tiger Garden reveals less of the
		equal, if not greater, number of				price.				creative processes than its publisher
		names unfamiliar outside genre		4		Jack Kerouac’s observation that				claims, it is nevertheless an oddly
		fiction. One would think that				‘the fact that everybody in the				beguiling, and beguilingly odd,
		writers of SF, fantasy and horror				world dreams every night ties all				collection.
										‘The Independent’,
										December 7, 1996