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Recurring dream once mentioned in the letters section of this magazine touched off an avalanche of reader angst not displayed here before or since. In 1973 E.C.K. Read '40, of New York City, wrote: "I am back at Harvard. It is exam time. I realize there is one course whose lectures I have not attended and whose books I have not read. I don't even know where the damn class meets. A sense of panic enfolds me--relieved only by awakening.... Should [this syndrome] be widespread," Read wrote, "the University no doubt has a responsibility to formulate rites by which the demon may be exorcised."
Poignant letters from 34 respondents appeared in ensuing issues. All the recurring dreams described were variations on Reed's theme. Things were no better on the other side of the lectern, for instance. "It is the first day of a new semester. I search all over the campus but I can find neither my classroom nor my class," wrote assistant professor Sue Solomon '62. "I have neglected to prepare a lecture, and I have no previous knowledge of the subject." The Princeton Alumni Weekly took up the story, with similar response from alumni of that place, and then the dream and its popularity among the anxiety-ridden received coverage in a national news magazine.
J. Allan Hobson comments, "From the formal point of view, Read's exam dream is a typical REM sleep production replete with the number-one dream affect (anxiety) and the most classic sort of dream bizarreness (severe disorientation). The anxiety arises from automatic activation of Read's amygdala and is aggravated by the inability of his impaired memory system to situate him in a manageable context, i.e. the course material and the location of the class.
"The content of the dream clearly expresses the concerns of a self-doubting achiever who, in waking life, is no less preoccupied with the adequacy of his preparation. Do I have my keys, my passport, my airplane ticket? Am I on time? Is this the right plane? Do I know what I'm going to say?
"Such concerns about what I call 'incomplete arrangements' are the very stuff of the modern urbanite's existence. It's bad enough to have them in waking, but one can at least temporarily exorcise the demon of doubt by checking. In dreaming, it is intolerable because neither external reality nor internal memory are available to tame our fear."
~ The Editors