Mark Twain's Which was the dream?, and other symbolic writings of the later years
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Mark Twain's Which was the dream?, and other symbolic writings of the later years
（The Mark Twain papers）
University of California Press, 1967, c1966
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Which was the dream?
Available at 96 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
All of these selections in this volume were composed between 1896 and 1905. Mark Twain wrote them after the disasters of the early and middle nineties that had included the decline into bankruptcy of his publishing business, the failure of the typsetting machine in which he invested heavily, and the death of his daughter Susy. Their principal fable is that of a man who has been long favored by luck while pursuing a dream of success that has seemed about to turn into reality. Sudden reverses occur and he experiences a nightmarish time of failure. He clutches at what may be a saving thought: perhaps he is indeed living in a nightmare from which he will awaken to his former felicity. But there is also the possibility that what seems a dream of disaster may be the actuality of his life. The question is the one asked by the titles that he gave to two of his manuscripts: "Which Was the Dream?" and "Which Was It?". He posed a similar question in 1893: 'I dreamed I was born, and grew up, and was a pilot on the Mississippi, and a miner and journalist...and had a wife and children...and this dream goes on and on and on, and sometimes seems so real that I almost believe it is real.
I wonder if it is?'. Behind this naive query was his strong interest in conscious and unconscious levels of mental experience, which were then being explored by the new psychology.
Table of Contents
Introduction THE TEXTS Which Was the Dream? The Enchanted Sea-Wilderness An Adventure in Remote Seas The Great Dark Indiantown Which Was It? Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes APPENDIX The Passenger's Story The Mad Passenger Dying Deposition Trial of the Squire
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