The Liminal Space of Dreams: Narration of Dreams in Graphic novel and Comics

<p><strong>This essay explores the dream as a narrative in graphic novels and comics, examining its character as a subconscious experience depicted by means of visual storytelling. Focusing on psychological, symbolic, and aesthetic functions of dream narrative, I demonstrate that dream narration offers an allegory by means of which both creator and reader can explore issues of identity, desire and trauma in an intimate and healing way. In analyzing these functions of dream narration, I draw upon ideas from theorists such as C.J Jung, Freud and other scholars who have engaged their work on the psychological perspective of the experience of dreams; Roland Barthes on the structuralism and Post-Structuralism, semiotic language narration; Scott McCloud and other comic scholars on the visual aesthetic of dreams and history of dream comics. This essay unravels the storytelling of dreams to create a non-linear logic of storytelling, My research engages comics all of which focus on author and reader collaboration, mid-20th-century American golden age comics, to autobiographical graphic novels from Julie Doucet and Una. Ultimately, I seek to show that dream narratives provide a safe space for both artists and readers. I argue that dream narration in comics is not only an artistic exploration of the unconscious but also a collaborative meaning-making that evolves across social context. </strong></p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate School of Art

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• LI, MUYANG

• dream narratives
• comics studies
• graphic novel
• psychoanalysis
• visual storytelling
• symbolism
• surrealism
• Art and Design
• Art Practice
• Fine Arts
• Illustration

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/40

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openscholarship.wustl.edu:mfa_illustration-1041