Verdad
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2006
- Posts
- 1,430
This thread makes me think of a French cartoon series I saw somewhere. Ernest Le Vampire. The protag is an ill-fortuned vampire whose nightly escapades invariably go awry. At the end of each episode, he wakes up in his coffin, much relieved to be there.
Apart from a running joke like that, I frankly can't see how the device can be anything but an insult to the reader.
As has been pointed out, dream sequences within a story have been used by many authors to a fine effect. An epistemological uncertainty about the entire story ("was this real? And what does real mean anyhow?") has been used well, too.
But when it comes to waving away the whole story with "it was just a dream", it is as good as saying to the reader "lalala, I just wasted your time."
I might add, though, that unlike 3113, I like the Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I think the thing with that story (like with most successful dream sequences) is that the ending isn't really a surprise. There are clues throughout the story that something is off, that we've entered an odd, alternative, oneiric, or what have you realm, and we read the story with that in mind. The ending gives us an answer as to what was off, but not, I think, a cancellation of the whole story.
Apart from a running joke like that, I frankly can't see how the device can be anything but an insult to the reader.
As has been pointed out, dream sequences within a story have been used by many authors to a fine effect. An epistemological uncertainty about the entire story ("was this real? And what does real mean anyhow?") has been used well, too.
But when it comes to waving away the whole story with "it was just a dream", it is as good as saying to the reader "lalala, I just wasted your time."
I might add, though, that unlike 3113, I like the Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I think the thing with that story (like with most successful dream sequences) is that the ending isn't really a surprise. There are clues throughout the story that something is off, that we've entered an odd, alternative, oneiric, or what have you realm, and we read the story with that in mind. The ending gives us an answer as to what was off, but not, I think, a cancellation of the whole story.
Last edited: