The Influence of Reading on Dreams

I had a strange dream the other night that, when I woke, had me wondering where it came from. I’m a vivid dreamer and occasionally repeat the same dream over the course of several nights. Usually, I can pick them apart in the morning and figure out where the bits and pieces came from. Maybe it was a show I watch on television, or something I read in the news, or in this case, from something I read. 

The dream was of a man walking into a desert, but the sand was more like water. The further he walked into the desert, the deeper the sand rose around his legs, then hips, then torso. He eventually pulled himself up onto a large rock and, as night fell, watched the dorsal fins of sharks circle around. 

Very strange, indeed.

But the more I thought about it the more I realized that it wasn’t all that weird. I recently finished reading a collection of short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which seems like the inspiration for all this imagery. Several of the stories in the collection take place in dry, arid little towns. There aren’t any plants, just barren sand and clay. Additionally, a few take place in remote villages balanced on the border between desert and ocean. 

So I think these stories of magic realism sunk into my subconscious and spawned this odd dream. Desert and ocean merged into one entity, and the man is probably a conglomeration of male characters from the stories. As for the sharks swimming in the sand, well, that may be something I picked up from the news. I read a story a few weeks ago about authorities in Indonesia who found the remains of a tourist in the belly of a shark. Luckily, there were no shark attacks in my dream.

This goes to show how powerful fiction can be. Reading a collection of short stories infiltrated my dreams and produced one so vivid that it stuck with me and had me thinking about it days later. 

I think it’s because fiction is magic. It has the power to influence us in unexpected ways. It can make us think, feel, empathize, and even reconsider our views. It can paint beautiful pictures in our minds, take us on journeys to far-off places, and even inspire us to try new things. 

One of the many things I love about reading is how good stories get into my head and never leave. I especially love when then influence my dreams like this recent short story collection did. There are stories I read decades ago that I still remember fondly and probably still pop up in my unconscious mind to lead me down strange paths in the night. 

Other forms of art can also do this, but for me, fiction has the strongest influence. 

I’m curious if others have similar experiences when they read a good story.

RB