The Theory of Prolepsis

1. "Dream of Consciousness" and the Narrative of Metaphor

by  Johnes Ruta, independent curator & art theorist
Art Director New Haven Free Public Library
azothgallery@comcast.net

© Copyright 2010, Johnes Ruta. All Rights Reserved.

The use of metaphor as a form of narrative in the novel over the last three hundred years has generated only occasional reflection on its elaborate means of representing and interpreting reality or the imagination. Little has been demonstrated about the description of dreams in prose where they pertain to, or compose, the story in a novel.

Story-telling in a novel can work with different effects: it can build the value of compassion or invoke less ideal emotions. Just as it is crucial that our perceptions recognize and adapt to new situations brought about by new scientific discoveries and new technological abilities, we also need to enable the recognition of portrayed elements of human life. In the context of certain literary works, moral solutions (or immoral ones) resolve social situations or dilemmas.

In contrast, a literary work which actively portrays a panorama of life without taking sides in a moral dilemma, generates a different kind of "landscape" of reality. In the case in which a new narrative is developed where a moral situation is not specific, or not defined, this "landscape" then reveals inherent or intrinsic characteristics in the dimensions of the story, locale, or persons, via the on-going narrative itself - in other words "the picture tells the story…"

The purpose of this essay will not be to analyze the symbolism of dreams, but to explain my narrative presentation of a sequence of dreams which create a panoramic and psychological story.

Considering human progress in the means of story-telling of the past three thousand years, from the times of oral-traditions being handed-down from generation to generation, to the establishment of learning academies, to the copying of literary and illustrated manuscripts in medieval times, to the wide publication of books of literature with Guttenberg's printing technology, to the dissemination of electronic books, digitalized audio readings and on-line file downloading, we finally begin to understand the physical principles of Media themselves and to appreciate their dynamics. Indeed, a wide discussion and analysis of these principles was presented by Marshall McLuhan in his groundbreaking book Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man, published in 1964, which also predicted many of the social impacts of the computer and of miniaturization.

Thus aware of the evolution and jumps of methods and technology, we then perceive the gap between the linear perceptions of thinking enabled by literacy, along the lines of logical/linguistic "categories" of knowledge, and the non-linear thought processes enabled by electronic technologies. This gap between linear and "post-linear" media can easily widen, eventually causing a breach in the historical continuity between these two basic steps in human evolution : It is the very communication between successive periods of technological development in which we have the continuity of History itself, in the arts, in literature and poetry -- and in the historical phases of music, architecture, style and fashion.

Over the bridge between these linear and non-linear phases of history in the 20th century, there have already been non-linear attempts to describe various social panorama and interior personal experiences, but few critical or academic explanations of these literary works have done much to make them more accessible, or comprehensible, or to provide an outline to their importance in building this bridge between successive histories.

Only a few significant works of literary theory have attempted to understand the terms of the narrative, such as George Lukacs' 1915 Theory of the Novel, E.M. Forster's 1927 Aspects of the Novel, and Yale University's Erich Auerbach's 1953 Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature.

In psychological terms, any development of a literary form which pushes further open the thematic limits of the human imagination must be understood as a structural shift in concrete reality. This kind of development should therefore be considered as a barometric or seismographic tool which aids in the estimation of the dimensions of psychological and psychic "reality."

Just as extreme new forms of comedy and satire can seem to stretch the limits of conventional "sanity" (sometimes being whimsically perceived as "insane"), so too, in prose writing, must new themes and novel modes of human thought also be taken into account as reasonably "sane."

In the study of 20th century Literature, it is already understood that several novels, such as as James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, have already moved narrative beyond the limits of coherent understanding: This literary observation has only just begun to make understandable this structural shift from the descriptions of concrete reality into the frontiers of Incomprehension :

.-- As a valid state of the logical mind, we shall explore aspects of the In-Comprehensible in personal perception, perspective, and communication in the development of Post-Aristotelian and post-medieval philosophy from Descartes' neo-Rationalist methodology incorporating innate ideas; to John Locke's emphasis on sense perception, reflective experience, and the phenomena of mind; the mathematician Leibniz' metaphysics from Plato. David Hume developed an empiricism, that is, a supremacy of perception. Immanuel Kant reconstructed the categories of knowledge and the logical criteria of the critical faculties. Hegel qualified Aesthetics in art as one of the main operations of "Dialectics," that is, a critical process to understand and appreciate truth and beauty and the synthesis of opposites. In the 20th century, Husserl developed a system of scrupulous introspection, Phenomenology, which analyzes the experience of external events upon the individual's conscious mind, and their comparative essential meanings upon different people.

To understand fiction, E.M. Forster, in his Aspects of the Novel, makes the distinctions between the kinds of narration used to produce the story line : In one approach, Forster observes how the author creates a deliberate arrangement of events which advances not only the narrator's voice but his mindset and personal agenda.

In this scenario, when the author is detected to speak through the words or actions of his main character, the role and degree of subtlety of that character, then become a significant factor which will distinguish that novel as either an expression of philosophy or of propaganda.

In the second type of approach, the narrator takes a neutral editorial perspective in order to objectively describe the lay out of the landscape, setting, or place, and the proceedings of the action. In this type of approach, I would add that, whether intentional or not, the layout of sequences of events, and the handling of the gaps of time from one scene to the next, actually then constitutes an "outline" of partitioned time periods of the story. In modern scientific terms, this therefore indicates the author's existential understanding of Space/ Time itself.

One example of the distinctions that Forster gives is a comparison of the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky: In many of Tolstoy's works, one or several characters set a moral example of behavior (a Kantian "Categorical Imperative,"), whereas each character in a Dostoevsky novel represents a complex of multiple motives, and frequently self-contradictory behaviors.

A natural difficulty in the understanding of academic science is, of course, the degree of complexity involved in operating measuring instruments and in the properties and interactive behavior of properties. The scientific parallel of the reader's ability or inability to follow the non- linear visual and verbal patterns of such novels is the inadequate public understanding of 19th century Quantum Theory. The general difficulty in fathoming the behavior and functions of subatomic particles has given rise to the concept of the "Counter-Intuitive Theory," wherein we think certain functions of matter to be beyond, or contrary to, our intuitive reference points. Perhaps this is because the development of Rationalism in the realm of Logic and the intellect occurred during the same historical phase as the early discoveries of atomic structure: The principle of Atomic Weight was well apparent in the 19th century in the easily identifiable differing weights of mineral and metallic elements, according to their varying displacement of water of by objects of identical size but differing density.

In the mid-19th century, experimental science had reached a period of logical stasis, and there was a period of hostility between many scientists and philosophers over their apparently separate paths of development in the use of Reason. The atomic principle was defined an indivisible particle, according to the consistent physics of Democritus, Aristotle, and Newton.

A turning point in the expected results of logical experiment did occur, however, in a single mundane experiment being performed by Max Planck, with the super heating of an iron ball: the measured decline of its temperature back down somehow revealed unexpected and inexplicable spikes of thermal energy on the graph being released in the cooling process…. Max Planck's radical inductive synectic analysis then shifted to a new Principle of Atomic Number, described by the Quantum Theory which explained these spikes as bursts of layers of multiple atomic shells. After more than 2,200 years, the atom could no longer be considered indivisible!

By the beginning of the 20th century, new forms of Logic provided by a struggling reconciliation of Science and Philosophy, and by new powers of microscopic instruments, could be used to recognize the existence and behavior of viruses and subatomic particles, but these discoveries were not fully synthesized into stable learning tools in their contemporary systems of public education. Indeed, even at the highest levels of scientific debate, medical observations of biology and mathematical findings of atomic theory were not allowed to academic acceptance when they yet conflicted with Aristotelian categories of knowledge and they could not be actually seen by contemporary state-of-the-art microscopes or telescopes.

In July, 1945, after 50 years of severe tribulations, a "theory" of atomic structure, still unverified by visual technology, did lead indisputably to an effective method to release an atomic explosion. The atomic nucleus still had not been visually seen.

In the parallel period of literary history, such novels as James Joyce's Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake, and those of William S. Burroughs, Italo Calvino, and Jose Saramago were eventually recognized as legitimate literary forms. But these works remain at the frontier of "amorphous
literary form," and the "mainstream" novel has since been stabilized by a consensus of literary agents and book publishers to return to the median from the reading difficulties to the general public posed by these works. Clear "logical" continuity and comprehensibility has been reestablished as the test of readable meaning.

In the extreme narrative forms used by these authors, it is the narrative thought impressions or abstract dialog between characters which drives the personal interactions of a story. In the "mainstream novel" these thought-forms are lacking or become peripheral or experientially marginalized if present.

In literary theory, both Lukacs' Theory of the Novel and Auerbach's Mimesis have attempted to substantiate the terms of any Rationalism which work behind the series of sequences to compose any continuity of plot. "Cause and effect" is generally the method which fabricates the continuity.

In spoken and written language, it is the ordering of phrases and of the words in the passage which conveys the understanding of a description or sequence. That which is presented first in a sentence automatically becomes the basis of any coherent knowledge of the information being presented to the reader. It is the pretense of the scene itself. To explain in advance to the reader the dynamics of the story being related there must be a common identifiable visual or sequential pattern of action.

The descriptive passage of text into a sensible continuity making up a story generates a presumed reality -- Just as in the common sensibility of an audience watching a dramatic story in a movie theatre: so in solitude is the "suspension of disbelief." in the thought process of the reader
reading a fictional story.

To write about life is one thing -- to write about dreams and to interweave them to create a continuous story is also to write about life, as the dreams we experience in the night also originate in the natural psyche. How these images move and weave themselves into sensible stories is still a matter of psychological debate, but they clearly represent and visualize certain interpersonal situations. The understanding of dream experience requires perhaps a shift in understanding of history itself, the psychological necessity to realize the meaning of symbols as they pertain to the uncertainty of the future. It is within the range from optimism to pessimism to apathy that we witness the daily unfolding of news events, and estimate the future of humanity. The shared consciousness of events creates a pattern of the forward motion of current history, as interpreted
by news reporters.

In much the same manner, the acceptance by the individual of the responsibilities of life does form a continuum in the concurrent exercise of the imagination.

In scientific terms this exercise involves the realization and analysis of possible connections between emerging technologies. But the problem is two-fold. First, there are the benefits to the course of invention, applications which will develop the human race through the creation of personal labor-saving devices, and the potential expansion of available time. But second, there is the importance in historical terms, which involves building an understanding of the relations between all the arts and sciences during any given time period. This constitutes an inductive principle and, by extension, applies to an understanding of the time in which an individual is aware of the future implications of each day's events which are witnessed on television news programs or read about in the newspaper.

Here, in this perspective is the very danger of thought -- that of the means by which we apply our prejudices which are based upon our own seeming deductive reasoning process. Another, more conscious method of approach to this problem is the use of an awareness of the historical conditions which pertain to the situation being viewed.

In the artwork of the 20th century, the Surrealist movement developed a creative system which in many diverse visions and dream-like narratives yet served the psychoanalytic purpose of both Freud and Jung, and others, to express the reality of the Unconscious in its real formlessness, its real Oceanic experience, its Karma of life and-longer-than-life Intentions and yearnings of the Human Soul - the reality of the Soul, as the Compendium of human experience and life…

* * * *

We often overlook the phenomenon that the patterns of language in everyday use do change over a period of time, and that words and phrases, derived from the need to identify and describe the events and objects in our realm of material experience, come into general use already having set meanings which may persist for a long time. These usages gradually become added into associ-ations and connotations to contemporary events and ideas, layering this sediment into any later references in spoken or written contexts. The range of understanding is eventually opened up or expanded by these inter-relations, and sometimes in the negative sense, becomes overheated by this form of overuse. The definitions provided by historical use often become the reason that the name of the object itself becomes consciously altered, such as with the name of an emerging nation, so that its acquired connotations can be eliminated, in order to restore the object to a purified state.

Conversely, we have seen a corruption of language carried out, especially by military and corporate agencies whose interest has been to portray the destructive effects of their policies, activities, and actions in a diminished light of reality. The most familiar of these terms is "collateral damage" which refers to non-target human casualties of military actions: The effect here is to absolve blame in the murder of innocent civilians situated near military targets.

Explained in the psychological terms of the past century, my own effort to reach an understanding about the communication links (static and dynamic) between the Mind and the Unconscious, may present the appearance to others that I, as a publicly involved activist in the art field, have occasionally taken my imagination out onto a tangent of thought-In the method of my own analysis though, I am confident to believe this tangent to be a limb of the Tree of Knowledge in need of exploration.

As a speaker in the public forum on the subject of creativity, I am well-conscious of the hazards of the use of metaphor, that it is much like crossing the ice formed over a river in winter, one cannot be positive about the safety of support of one's weight, that the thickness of the ice cannot -- as perhaps affected by unseen currents below the frozen surface -- be surely gauged unless a broken edge is seen. As my climb of the Tree of Knowledge brings me to look out over the landscape of signals and signs, I realize that I might not be able to make myself heard fully and clearly understood without some detailed explanation to those still gathered around the trunk of the Tree, who, failing to look aloft, wonder onto what side-trails I have wandered off…

Such is the point and the problem of metaphor, as we hope to convey our new experience by writing down a description of the continuity, as we hope to reconstruct a world into which we have traveled between the covers of a book ...

The Tree of Knowledge of which we speak is really the system of learning which has come down to us through the ages: the ancient practices and principles of metallurgy and agriculture from Sumeria and Egypt, of medicine, mathematics, and astronomy, of philosophy, art and drama, and of the psychology of life, thought, and religion. Also filtering in to this knowledge, have been the percep-tions of mystics and the forms of systems of the spiritual dimensions that have been proposed by prophets, visionaries, and theologians.

Therefore, in any new understanding of thinking and perception, we must account for these existing perspectives and as well bring into bearing the new and accepted theories of science in our own time. These theories have already had subtle or subliminal influences on how and what we can see, and how we express to one another. The next and unavoidable step is to continue the exploration of the relations of our perceptions to our communications.

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The primary duty of non-fictional writing is the explanation of the writer's ideas and definitions in a clear enough manner that they will describe the structure of images, patterns, or phenomena of the subject of the writing. This convention is extended, to some degrees, into any kind of writing that is being employed: fiction, prose, poetry-any story, bit, or system of science or general knowledge presented in essay or outline form.

Anyone who has done historical research, crime detection, jig-saw puzzles, or computer analysis will testify that the parts which lead to the solution of any kind of puzzle are very often discovered out of linear sequence. These known parts must be subjectively arranged and rearranged as more parts of the puzzle are located, until a cohesive pattern can be ascertained, or it can be demonstrated that missing parts to the puzzle are lost or not yet available. This is the process of non-linear logic.

In my own style of fiction writing, especially where the text pertains to the description of dreams, I have purposefully often pushed the conventional limits of phraseology to a fusion of poetic and prose language, in order to test the very cohesion of Matter and Consciousness. This is "rebel Epistemology."

Along with the historical use of fable, such as in Aesop, Leonardo, and La Fontaine, there has also been employed the use of allegory, that is, a story line which creates a parallel to the description of a scientific principle, which serves as a device to specifically explain or illustrate that scientific thought. Examples of literary allegory in prose are to be found in such works as the Hypneroticamachia Polifili; 1499, Rablais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, 1536; Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, 1725; Voltaire's Candide, 1765; Anatole France's Penguin Island, 1909; and William S. Burroughs' The Soft Machine, The Ticket That Exploded, and Nova Express of the 1960s.

Less understood is the principal of metaphor. Though widely used in poetry as a means to create a "bridge" between two dissimilar sensations or visions -- the use of metaphor in prose writing specifically conflicts with the prose methodology of linear exposition of descriptions and the narrative sequencing of events in order to tell a story.

However, when one wishes to record in writing the remembered sequence of events in a nighttime dream, one is soon perplexed by the difficulty to build a "sensible" continuity of dream events in strangely unfamiliar or eerily familiar locations - along with a sequence of objects which have varying aspects of appropriate presence in the dream story. This pattern of "non sequitur" connections gives rise to the perception of objects as symbols, both within the dream sleep experience -- and in the waking reflection, or "piecing-together," the parts of a dream memory, and the consideration of its "meaning."

There are ideas about the little explored avenues of information which are connected into the Unconscious, in all of its own practical, psychosocial, erotic, and metaphorical references. These ideas require a means of description in order to take something as formless and/or suggestive as the images in our dreams, and to somehow fit them together into these sometimes meaningful, symbolic, or ominous stories.

In Behaviorist Psychology, the speculation is that dreams are merely disjoined, independent images.But I must regard this proposition as purely Reductionism, as it is clear that dreams contain many conversations, which cannot be relegated as disjoined, meaningless images.

One paradoxical effect of reading is the phenomenon of confusion when one reaches the bottom of a page and not knowing what one has just read, whether this is caused by distraction, tiredness, or lack of clarity in the writing. This is a common event in reading any type of text, but when reading the description of a dream, there may be a desired side-effect, that this lapse of conscious attention might allow a sympathetic resonance effect to take place: that the reader may experience one of their own forgotten dreams emerging from the Unconscious mind into the Conscious awareness.


~ Johnes Ruta
09 January 2010