Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton Chekhovfelt by those who are asleep. The first pages of “Karelin’s Dream”vividly brought it to my memory—especially the first half of pagefive, where you speak of the cold and loneliness of the grave.I think that had I been born in Petersburg and constantly livedthere, I should always dream of the banks of the Neva, the SenateSquare, the massive monuments.When I feel cold in my sleep I dream of people …. I happened tohave read a criticism in which the reviewer blames you for introducinga man who is “almost a minister,” and thus spoiling the generallydignified tone of the story. I don’t agree with him. What spoils thetone is not the people but your characterization of them, which insome places interrupts the picture of the dream. One does dream ofpeople, and always of unpleasant ones …. I, for instance, when I feelcold, always dream of my teacher of scripture, a learned priest of imposingappearance, who insulted my mother when I was a little boy;I dream of vindictive, implacable, intriguing people, smiling withspiteful glee—such as one can never see in waking life. The laughterat the carriage window is a characteristic symptom of Karelin’s nightmare.When in dreams one feels the presence of some evil will, theinevitable ruin brought about by some outside force, one always hearssomething like such laughter …. One dreams of people one loves,too, but they generally appear to suffer together with the dreamer.But when my body gets accustomed to the cold, or one of myfamily covers me up, the sensation of cold, of loneliness, and of anoppressive evil will, gradually disappears …. With the returningwarmth I begin to feel that I walk on soft carpets or on grass, I seesunshine, women, children.... The pictures change gradually, butmore rapidly than they do in waking life, so that on awaking it isdifficult to remember the transitions from one scene to another ….This abruptness is well brought out in your story, and increases theimpression of the dream.Another natural fact you have noticed is also extremely striking:dreamers express their moods in outbursts of an acute kind, withchildish genuineness, like Karelin. Everyone knows that people weepand cry out in their sleep much more often than they do in wakinglife. This is probably due to the lack of inhibition in sleep and of theimpulses which make us conceal things.69