Bridge dreams

[slemslempike]

[Poll #1123308]


Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams, Book IV, quoted by Foucault:

"If a woman or a handsome youth dream they turn into a bridge, they will become prostitutes and allow many to go over them." I merely wanted to see how many of my flist were going to become prostitutes.

Artemidorus as summarised by Foucault is quite great. If you are a woman and dream of having sex with a man, "the dream is favourable in every case, for it accords with the natural and social roles of women." If you are a man and have this dream (and for Artemidorus this means you dream of being penetrated), then it's only a good thing if the man fucking you is older and richer than you. It's only a good thing for a man to dream of having sex with his daughter if his daughter is richer than him.

All positions other than missionary "have been discovered by yielding to wantonness and licentiousness". Apparently this is a bad thing. Also bad: the five ways of deviating from nature in sexual relations.

1. relations with gods
2. relations with animals
3. relations with corpses
4. relations with oneself (penetrating oneself rather than manual masturbation)
4. relations between women

So now we know.

Comments

[carandol.livejournal.com]

Adds a whole new meaning to Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water"!

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Indeed! Quite a specialised service...

[chiasmata]

So what about if you're neither a woman nor a handsome youth?

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I figure all my flist are one and/or the other - if not, what is the point of reading their journals?

I can't remember what he said, because I returned the book and paid a £1 fine for not doing so sooner. I imagine it was about losing all your money though, most of his dream analysis involves losing money. Freud says anal obsession is about fear of poverty, too.

[ecila-etc.livejournal.com]

I have had many dreams ABOUT bridges. Though I put this down to having to perform a show about building and breaking bridges at the Science Museum continually for 5 years.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Maybe that makes you a john?

[morganmuffle]

So is it a good or a bad thing that so far none of your flist are going to become prostitutes?

Sometimes when those conversations come up about why it is that certain slashers always turn one of a pair into a weak bottom and the other into a very toppy top I hink perhaps I should point out that it's not exactly surprising considering how many people historically believed that it was okay for two guys as long as the top was older/richer what have you.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Yet! You might well all dream about being bridges tonight, and then I will Know.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

I'm only just waking up properly, and, when I first saw the question, I thought it was asking whether I'd ever dreamt about being a fridge. No doubt there would be some analysis to be got out of that, too.