Lynn A. Struve

I haven't been this excited to read a new book of history in a long time. Lynn Struve's goal is seemingly to mine, from a huge variety of necessarily idiosyncratic sources, a coherent "arc" in the understanding of dreaming in 17th century China, during which both the philosophico-religious and the sociological shifts of the time favored an intense literary emphasis on subjective affect and reflection on internal experience. Having demonstrated (not entirely, but fairly convincingly) that such a dream-positive "arc" did occur, Struve then more subtly attempts to use the unique profusion of dream accounts to look for trends in literati reactions to the rapid shifts accompanying the end of the Ming and rise of the Qing. This is a book which, done perfectly, could do a huge amount to shed light on how Chinese intellectuals first perceived and reacted to the reality of a shifting national environment, from a uniquely personal lens. Ultimately the huge number of distinct sources (it often feels as though Struve introduces a new author on each page) and corresponding sparseness of direct argument makes it somewhat difficult to follow Struve's argument on what, exactly, the "arc" of dreaming meant and looked like from the inside, as well as on which material and intellectual factors were most important in motivating her dreamers' oneiric responses. Even so, it is possible to sketch a rough but compelling thesis from this fairly source-heavy book, and there is certainly something to be said for a history that provides a guide and entry-point to the primary sources and leaves interpretation up to the individual reader. Well worth reading if you have any interest in the Ming-Qing transition, in dreaming, or in how individuals apprehend socio-political change.… (meer)