Dreams

Psychologists and neuroscientists majorly shifted popular understanding of dreams during the 20th century. As an author born and working through the late-20th century, Pastan witnessed these changes and built them into her work.

Pastan confirms that dreams offer her much inspiration and imagery for her work, crediting “the mad freedom of the dream state” (Kernan, Michael. "Dreams &." The Washington Post, 17 Dec. 1983). In a profile in The Washington Post, she said she preferred to work early before “the visions melt” (Kernan). During this time, her imagination still runs “loose in that landscape of wishes” and “detached from the engines of reason” (Kernan).

“The landscape of wishes” echoes psychoanalysis creator Dr. Sigmund Freud’s theory of dreams. Freud understood dreams as unconscious, disguised manifestations of inner desires. A person dreams because they cannot fulfill their wishes during their waking life. Freud explained that nightmares expressed guilt or processed trauma.

He introduced his dream theories in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899). Even though many became outdated, Freud’s theories and methodology remained popular among psychologists into the 1950s—Pastan’s early adulthood years.

Aspects of Freud’s theories come out through Pastan’s dream lover. Innocence frequently stands in for virginity, romantic inexperience, and youth.