Historical dream account · English · original text
The overheard remark after the party
William Dean Howells (1837–1920)
Impressions and Experiences (1896) · I Talk of Dreams, printed pp. 99, 100
Dreamer identified by the source: William Dean Howells
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I found myself in a large room, where people were sitting at lunch or supper around small tables, as is the custom, I am told, at parties in the houses of our nobility and gentry. I was feeling very well; not too proud, I hope, but in harmony with the time and place. I was very well dressed, for me; and as I stood talking to some ladies at one of the tables I was saying some rather brilliant things, for me; I lounged easily on one foot, as I have observed men of fashion do, and as I talked, I flipped my gloves, which I held in one hand, across the other; I remember thinking that this was a peculiarly distinguished action. Upon the whole I comported myself like one in the habit of such affairs, and I turned to walk away to another table, very well satisfied with myself and with the effect of my splendor upon the ladies. But I had got only a few paces off when I perceived (I could not see with my back turned) one of the ladies lean forward, and heard her say to the rest in a tone of killing condescension and patronage, "I don't see why that person isn't as well as another."
Undated personal dream
Source & context
The immediately preceding passage explicitly introduces this as a personal dream: But I do not so much object to these ordeals as to some social experiences which I have in dreams. I cannot understand why one should dream of being slighted or snubbed in society, but this is what I have done more than once, though never perhaps so signally as in the instance I am about to give. The subsequent general theory of crime and morality is outside the selected episode and is not current scientific advice. No date is known.
William Dean Howells (1837–1920), own recalled dream in Impressions and Experiences (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1896), I Talk of Dreams, printed pp. 99, 100. Original-edition witness: Internet Archive. This is a published recollection in a humorous nonfiction essay. Original wording and qualifications retained; descriptive title and navigation themes added by Synastry.
Undated personal dream; exact modern date not assigned.
Public domain in the United States (1896 edition) ↗
Original 1896 English edition, confirmed by printed title page and Library of Congress September 25, 1896 deposit stamp. The archive item states the Library of Congress is unaware of copyright restrictions for the item. The old published text predates 1931 and has an expired-US-copyright basis; Howells died in 1920, so ordinary life-plus-70 terms have elapsed. No modern translation or scholarly edition is used; no new CC licence or blanket worldwide clearance is asserted.
Source locator and text provenance
I Talk of Dreams, printed pp. 99, 100
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Only scan-witnessed OCR, line/page furniture and punctuation spacing repairs. Editorial title and navigation metadata added. No synthetic dream prose, modern translation, calendar conversion or omitted authored qualification.
- Account text SHA-256
- d6701c4068ddf9c6465f0e8624b43bfbbea2c5c9080cf68081986113164d749b
- Source file SHA-256
- 8ba32ef53e13a25a46918b94fa62c27ae1a3641d582d15f33071e23b68a7f058
Content notes
- Historical recollection
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.