I started recording my dreams—all of my dreams, including mere scraps of dreams—only in 1994. Earlier, I paid attention only to exceptional dreams. The collection that has accumulated over the years is quite extraordinary. By a rough count, I have recorded close to two hundred dreams. Almost all of the pieces on this subject start with the same clumsy words: “I dreamt…” There is not a shred of artifice in these pieces. But the true joy of this collection will be in trying to understand the dreams, looking for patterns in them, studying them in minute detail. This is something that I will attempt only when I am reasonably sure that the time is right, whenever that may be. I do not even read the dream pieces now because I feel that the time is not yet right. And the waiting for the right time is the true joy of this collection.

Addendum I (August 13, 2016)

After so many years, I cannot but wonder about this project of mine. By now, there must be about five-hundred dreams recorded over the last two decades, as well as about fifty of them recorded over the first two decades. Wow! Even collecting the dreams in one file would be quite a chore, let alone analyzing them in any comprehensible fashion. To begin with, their incidence would need explaining, for I record only what I remember upon waking. Then, the topics would need classifying and organizing into a coherent whole. Next, individual dreams would need dividing into classes. Lastly, the entire collection would need interpreting in the context of my life and its more-or-less distinct stages. All this would require a conceptual framework I would consider acceptable, which is hardly the case with any such framework I am aware of at present. And so forth. In short, I can only hope that a sprightly student of psychology would discover my writings and embark upon a plausible interpretation of my dreams. The rest of my writings would provide the necessary context. After a few years, it would be a joy to read the results. Any takers? Hey, all the requisite data is available already, and for free!

Addendum II (August 30, 2016)

A fortnight ago, I sent this piece and the first addendum to Eike Wolff, a Freudian psychoanalyst from Brussels whom I know from Motovun, and asked him whether he knew anyone who would be interested in my offer. He promised to look into it, and he mentioned several universities where this sort of research was conducted. With some luck, we may have a research project going. Not to be idle in the meanwhile, I started compiling a spreadsheet with titles of all my dreams and their dates. And I just completed it this morning. Although the spreadsheet will need much more work on the substantive side, some of the statistics are quite amazing even at this stage. To begin with, there are some eight-hundred dreams in my magnum opus. The number of dreams per year varies a great deal, and it ranges between as low as twenty and as high as one-hundred and twenty. Interestingly, the winning year is 2012, when I recorded a dream every third day on the average. What I find most surprising about the available record are the gaps between dreams, which often go into as long as four months. And it is good to remember that I record every single dream I manage to remember the morning after. Anyhow, there is much work ahead of me, but the spreadsheet will be at its focus all the while.

Addendum III (January 29, 2018)

As it happens, I Dreamt will be the title of the last selection from my Residua. All of my dreams will be in it. And they will be available for free on my Ca’ Bon Gallery website (www.cabongallery.org). Recorded artlessly, they will be of value to students of dreams. Although I do not have much faith in dream interpretation, they surely offer a good guide to our fears and desires. Which is perhaps a sufficient reason to study them with due care. One way or another, this strikes me as a happy end to this piece of writing.