At the Borders of Sleep: On Liminal Literature

(Paperback)

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This book is a unique exploration of the connections between literature and the liminal states between waking and sleepingfrom falling asleep and waking up, to drowsiness and insomnia, to states in which sleeping and waking mix. Delving into philosophy as well as literature, Peter Schwenger investigates the threshold between waking and sleeping as an important and productive state between the forced march of rational thought and the oblivion of unconsciousness.

Reviews

""At the Borders of Sleep" has changed my perspective, to the extent that I now see the issue of this liminal state--half awake, half asleep--not as just my personal affliction, but as a much larger, all pervasive state, one that profoundly conditions all of literature, indeed all of 'consciousness.' This is the power of Peter Schwenger's book--after reading it one starts to see the liminal state, hypnagogia, everywhere. It becomes the subject of one's waking thoughts, and one's dreams." --Allan Stoekl, Penn State University

Author Bio

Peter Schwenger is resident fellow at the University of Western Ontarios Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism. He is the author of several books including The Tears of Things: Melancholy and Physical Objects (Minnesota, 2006).