Dreamwatcher

by Theodore Roszak

Imagine having the power to observe the dreams of others-to have intimate knowledge of the most secret desires, the most dreaded terrors, the childish delights, the sexual fantasies of anyone you might choose. Then imagine having the power to enter those dreams and reshape them. Deirdre Vale is a dreamwatcher, one of a select group whose extraordinary talent could be a boon to medical science. But as she discovers to her horror, her powers have become the focus of malicious intrigue whose purpose is not to heal the soul, but to torment it with lethal nightmares. Theodore Roszak's Dreamwatcher is a haunting psychological thriller, a story that finds both terror and heroism in the depths of the dreaming mind.

Genres: Horror, Novels, Science Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Theodore Roszak was Professor Emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay. He is best known for his 1969 text, The Making of a Counter Culture.

Roszak first came to public prominence in 1969, with the publication of his The Making of a Counter Culture[5] which chronicled and gave explanation to the European and North American counterculture of the 1960s. He is generally credited with the first use of the term "counterculture".

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

1986 Grafton mass-market (384 pages), with art by Alun Hood.*

Deirdre is a dreamwatcher, able to enter other people’s dreams, and to a large extent even shape and control them. She’s been working with a top psychologist, who uses her and her gift as an instrument to supposedly help others, as dreams are like doorways into the unconscious mind, which is pretty useful for someone in his profession. But unbeknownst to her, she’s also being utilized as a weapon of sorts.

The psychologist, Devane, is actually being funded by a secret, MK Ultra-type government program who uses those like her to take down political enemies of the United States, by rooting out their darkest secrets and fears, wearing them down or driving them mad. Oftentimes the results are fatal. Their latest target: a revolutionary-minded old nun from Central America who’s on track to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and whose views are a bit too…radical for their tastes. Deirdre means to help her, but who—or what—is watching the watcher?

I have to admit that at first I was disappointed that it read more like a political or medical thriller than horror, but I soon got caught up in all the crazy psychic warfare and tripped-out dreamscapes. The horror does come eventually, but Roszak takes his sweet time setting the scene, and I almost considered putting it down after 70-80 pages. I’m glad I stuck with it, as before long I found myself captivated by the ever-increasing and ever more disturbing hallucinatory nightmare imagery. The characters were all well-drawn, but I was never entirely invested in their fates. I was more pulled in by the unique mixture of spirituality, psychology, and the paranormal, as well as all the surreal psychosexual dreamworld head-fuckery.

Between this and Flicker, Roszak is two for two with me, though both could be slogs in sections, especially if you’re not in the proper mood. His writing style is rather dense, with lots of fake history lessons and “shop talk”-style infodump dialogue, so your mileage may vary depending on how fascinating you find the subject matter to be.

* ISBN: 0-586-06846-5/ISBN 13: 9780586068465, in case a librarian feels like adding this edition.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads does not have the cover of this 80s Grafton paperback on file, but it is a killer. As for the novel itself, what a flashback to the 80s. This made me remember by undergrad days, when Central America and beyond was awakening to 'Liberation Theology' and hungering for justice and revolution. Our lead, Dierdre, is a dreamwatcher; someone who can enter, and indeed shape, other people's dreams. She always had the gift, but as a child, her parents did not know what to do about it and she lapsed into a from of autism, not speaking for years.

Flash forward a few decades and Dierdre now lives in a clinic in Santa Barbara with her surviving daughter. Dierdre 'came out' of her autism and basically kept mum about her abilities. She found a man she loved and they had three children together. Her husband Peter, however, one day started having horrible dreams. While Dierdre had refrained from going into dreams since they were married, she finally felt she had no other option; what she found was horrible. Try as she might, she could not shape his dreams away from the horror, which eventually drove him insane; one night he awoke and killed their two smallest kids and them himself. Dierdre was devastated and basically locked away until the director of a different clinic took her in.

Turns out, dreamwatching is what the 'good' doctor Devane had been studying for years. In fact, he first 'discovered' it with a patent of his just after the Korean war. Devane is a tragic figure here, wanting to use dreamwalking to help his patients like a good Freudian-- they can tell us many secrets about our self after all. The government (some black ABC agency) also knew about dreamwalking, and they had another agenda-- using dreamwalking to 'take out' the enemies of the US government, compelling them to commit suicide or other things that would render them harmless.

Dierdre does not know this of course; she is Devane's special patient, and a very talented dreamwalker. The nasty government agency, however, has a target it wants to take out and thinks Dierdre is just the ticket. Some nun from Guatemala, Mother Constancia, had been forced from her nation and is now in exile in L.A. Further, she is probably going to win the Nobel Peace prize. The US government does not like this one bit, seeing her as basically a supporter of Marxist terrorists and such, out to undermine the friendly dictators the US cultivated in its 'backyard'. So, the stage is set...

I really wanted to like this more. Roszak excelled in portraying vivid dreamscapes for sure, and the premise was unique to say the least. The whole liberation theology and struggles in Central America brought me right back to the 80s. While all this was novel to be sure, having a secret US government agency using people's special talents for nefarious purposes reminded me a bit to much of novels like Firestarter. So, while the 'gift' here was new, the trope was old, even by 1985 when this was first published. YMMV however! Vivid, haunting dreamscapes and what the cover announces as a psychosexual shocker may rock you boat. I just found it a bit too predictable, even with the sorta surprise ending. Still, well worth a read if you can find it. 3.5 dreamy stars!!

[Steve Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is about dreams. The setting is a psychiatric clinic built around a doctor’s research into dream states. He has stumbled upon people who can tap into the dreams of others. He can help guide them into doing this. He can train people with these innate abilities. He can develop them into tools, “instruments”, to explore and indeed, effect, the dreamscapes of others. But early on in his career, some years ago, the potentially good doctor has fallen for the sick bargain of generous funding, a clinic in his name, but the cost is secrecy and control of a government intelligence agency.
The doctor’s instruments, his dreamwatchers are used by the mind control MK-ULTRA wing of intelligence to enter the dreams of people on their hit list and neutralize, discredit them by psychiatric manipulation.
Roszak humainizes his big story with Deirdre, a dreamwatcher, who we come to know and gain sympathy for. She and the doctor, Devane, are the main players in the story. The doctor is a good guy but is trapped in a devil’s bargain. He wants the world to know and benefit from his work, but it must be kept secret as it has been bought and weaponized by ruthless power. The critical point comes when the doctor is ordered to destroy the serenity, and public stature of a radical Catholic nun from Central America. The CIA just doesn’t want her to get the Nobel Peace Prize.
The character of the nun brings in with her a childhood connection to indiginous spirituality. She was taken off as a child and initiated by an aunt who was connected to that stream of ancient female shamanic energy, and training; this magic.

The novel tells an exciting suspenseful story around all this.
Is this just a fun fantasy read? Is it just a spy mind control adventure?
Dreams are so important. Are our dreams manipulated by power above us. In the novel to mess with people the dreamwatchers take them to a place of dark emptiness. At this writing Senator Bernie Sanders has just withdrawn from competition for a presidential nomination. In the address that contained his announcement he said something realated to the power of a dream:

"The greatest obstacle to real social change has everything to do with the power of the corporate and political establishment to limit our vision,” he said.

Are we watching over our power to dream? Are we keeping it clear from less than wholesome influence? What dreams, or nightmares, would come from power if it actually could influence our thoughts and mental well being? Where are the borders between awake and dreaming? Are our stories related to dreams? Do they influence dreams? When we hear a story well told around a campfire, how does part of us enter that story, feel with it? What type of stories attract us? Do the most frightening ones draw us in because we are fragile and must be aware of environmental hazards? Do we instinctively know we have to look out for danger? Is this being exploited for nothing more than commercial interest?

This writer is aware of mass media influencing his own dreams.
This happened just the other night after watching a good movie on a 13” computer screen for picture and stereo headphones for audio.
The movie was Seberg about actor/activist Jean Seberg. The movie was not so much about her but, not so distant to the theme of Dreamwatcher, about government intelligence operatives messing with her business. They spy on her and ultimately try to destroy her by spreading lies about her.
It is brought up here, not to review the movie itself but as an example of this powerful medium to enter into dreams.
That night this viewer had a vivid dream of being with the character of Seberg in the movie in an apartment. This was not his first experience of this sort. In this case the movie was very good and the dream benign. This dream was about fitting into the environment of the lavish new all white NYC tower apartment setting, maybe class anxiety but not with longing, greed, or lust triggered by the movie.
Yet the movie had the power to enter the dream in this way. An expensive mass media entertainment had the power to do that little trick. It wasn’t the first time and this dreamer is a fully developed elder adult far from the relatively open vessels of children who are increasingly exposed to screen dreams direct from powerful corporations who’s only goal is to manipulate them to increase their profit and power.
Beyond that militant intelligence is also involved with the CIA using a massive portion of their budget to direct mass media in lines with their interests.
This is not so from the melodrama of the plot line of Roszak’s very fine and thought provoking novel from the relatively innocent times of the 1980s.

[Ariane Brosseau · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jamais eu autant envie de brûler un livre que ça. L'idée que certaines personnes aient le pouvoir d'espionner les rêves des autres et y intervenir était intéressante, mais la connexion qui est faite avec l'autisme est ridicule. On ne peut pas «avoir une phase autiste» et «s'en sortir». La répétition de cette niaiserie, en plus d'une intrigue bien plus politique que ce à quoi je m'attendais, m'a fait abandonner le livre.

[Rudene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful imagination - scary almost, took about 50 pages to get into it but definitely not disappointed. One of my first ever books and definitely on of my favorites.

[Kevin Barney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roszak wrote one of my favorite books, "Flicker" which I first read back in the early 90s. I reread it every 5 years or so. So when I ran across this, I was relatively excited. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as "Flicker." A fine summer beach read, but that's about it.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little creepy....people who experience others' dream.....and can manipulate them.