Pomiędzy rzeczywistością a snem. Powieść Temná láska jako próba zapisu kobiecego losu w konwencji snu

Аннотация

Between reality and a dream: Woman’s fate as a dream vision in Alexandra Berková’s Temná láska Dark Love

In this paper I examine the relation between the autobiography and the reality of dreams in Alexandra Berková’s Temná láska Dark Love, 2000. The oneiric reality not only offers the subject the freedom from the rules functioning in real life, but it also contains the possibility of modifying one’s life. Through aclose examination of oneiric elements and the protagonist’s life, I prove that the combination of fantastic visions of traumatic events in the protagonist’s marriage and the dialogue with a psychoanalyst functions as a means of deepening the knowledge of oneself and regenerating the female subject. Using Freud’s concept of the irrational source of dreams and his thesis about the crucial meaning of dreams in understanding oneself, I focus on the multiple selves, or roles that the female subject performs in real life, her attempts to gain freedom, and finally her perception of the notion of freedom. The article also considers the similarity between the dream and the autobiography; namely that they both convey some intricate symbolic message about the subject that can only be fully understood by the one who dreams, or the one who writes his/her autobiography.