Dreaming in the Middle Ages

This is a study of medieval attitudes to dreaming, which ranged from deep fascination to strong suspicion. It examines the role of the dream in medieval culture and its importance both as a real-life experience and as a literary construct, with reference to philosophical, legal and theological writings as well as literary and autobiographical works. Steven Kruger studies the development of theories of dreaming, from the Neoplatonic and patristic writers to late medieval re-interpretations, and shows how these theories relate to autobiographical accounts and to more popular treatments of dreaming. He considers previously neglected material including an important dream vision by Nicole Oresme, and arrives at a new understanding of the literary genre of the dream vision, and of medieval ideas about dreams in general.