The Castle of Dreams [Hardcover]

Michel Jouvet (Author), Laurence Garey (Translator), J. Allan Hobson (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2008

How discoveries about sleep and dreaming might have been made: a novel by a pioneering sleep researcher casts an eighteenth century aristocrat as its scientific and romantic hero.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This novel by ground-breaking sleep researcher Jouvet (The Paradox of Sleep) is written as a series of discovered journal entries and letters by fictional 18th-century French scientist Hugues la Scève: wealthy, intensely curious and obsessed with tinkering. Painstakingly documenting seven years of his own dreams and applying novel methods of classification and analysis, la Scève attempts to pioneer the science of dreaming. He follows this work by collecting empirical evidence to support his theories, spending years observing sleeping rabbits, toads, Siamese twins and postcoital couples. He applies the emerging sciences of electrical engineering, chemistry and physics to his experiments. Long theoretical stretches are tough going, and there's no real denouement. But the scientific techniques and instrumentation, described in minute detail, are particularly satisfying. When it works, the book brings to life a time when the yoke of irrational faith was being lifted, opening up seemingly endless opportunity for discovery. (Sept.) ""
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Review

"In a vivid historical setting devoid of lab coats and high technology, Jouvet demonstrates that scientific discovery is the love child of relentless curiosity, a seed that can flower at any time, in any mind."--Dan Lloyd, author of Radiant Cool

This enlightening, entertaining, and intriguing novel begins as a story within a story--or a story within a trunk. A Frenchman--our narrator, presumably the author Michel Jouvet, or a literary version of himself--buys an antique chest with brass fittings, labeled with the initials HLS and a partially worn away date, "178-." Happy to have such a handsome piece for his hallway, the narrator is surprised to find within it bundles of ancient papers tied with string. He has discovered the dream journals, experiments, and correspondence of eighteenth-century amateur scientist Hugues la Scève. With Jouvet, a recognized authority on sleep and dream research, as our guide, we follow la Scève's quest to unlock the mystery of dreams. In his chateau and elsewhere, la Scève undertakes a series of complex and often comic experiments: he records his own dreams and speculates on their relation to waking life; he studies sleeping cats, rabbits, and other animals (and observes rapid eye movement almost two centuries before modern science discovers it); he records the sleep and dream experiences of a Swiss soldier and a pair of Siamese twins. And, because sleep and dreams are often in close proximity to the erotic, he considers the relation of dreaming and sexual activity, heroically undertaking first-hand research with various women (with the notable exception of his wife). La Scève's fantastic experiments and discoveries have a solid scientific basis: Jouvet has transposed some of his own cutting-edge research to the context of the eighteenth century--when scientific knowledge was more limited, but the joy of scientific study was more widespread. La Scève's experiments are a testament to the power of scientific observation. The tale that Jouvet discovered buried in the old chest could have been true.

"Does art mirror science? Or does art (and artists) anticipate future scientific progress? Michel Jouvet's playful gem of a novel answers both ways. In doing so, he entices lay readers with the forays of the novel's protagonist into the world of sleep and dreaming; at the same time, scientists will marvel at Jouvet's fictional yet technically accurate account of these mysterious states of consciousness. Renowned sleep scientist Michel Jouvet unerringly finds his novelist's voice in The Castle of Dreams. A splendid, entertaining book!" --Raja Parasuraman, author of The Psychology of Vigilance and The Attentive Brain

(Raja Parasuraman )

"Does art mirror science? Or does art (and artists) anticipate future scientific progress? Michel Jouvet's playful gem of a novel answers both ways. In doing so, he entices lay readers with the forays of the novel's protagonist into the world of sleep and dreaming; at the same time, scientists will marvel at Jouvet's fictional yet technically accurate account of these mysterious states of consciousness. Renowned sleep scientist Michel Jouvet unerringly finds his novelist's voice in The Castle of Dreams. A splendid, entertaining book!" Raja Parasuraman , author of The Attentive Brain

"... la Sceve's passion for science is contagious and at time achingly funny." Alison McCulloch The New York Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; First Edition edition (August 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262101270
• ISBN-13: 978-0262101271
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,475,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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