The Dream Room
A book by Erich Maria Remarque
The novel The Dream Room is a writing that combines literary neo-romanticism with positivist philosophy. A work from the early twentieth century (published in 1920) that describes the lives of characters who address life and the meanings we can attribute to this universal phenomenon from the perspective of an art lover who gives a major meaning to life in the context of lyrical experiences about artistic creation and aesthetic sense.
Life is a dream and the dream is a dream as mentioned in the novel. The world around the characters present in the book unfolds on a phantasmagoric chain that encompasses their own social reality but also their psychology.
In the novel, the dream room is a private place for artists but also for discussions that aim at art or spiritual values but that also try to reflect human existence, the human condition and the human attitude towards that condition.
Fritz, the mentor of this art club, tries to offer a hope of fully living for his disciples, those who visit his painting workshop and invites him to discuss the wonderful meanings of life. Ernst, Elisabeth or Trix are just some of the young people who have found refuge in Fritz's art studio. And they have all become convinced that the dream room is a spiritual sanctuary where they can truly live. Here they can sing, compose lyrics, contemplate works of fine art, decorate the workshop with roses, drink red wine or contemplate nature and the seasons, the evening or the vault of the night, human love or naivety, destiny or spirit, the intangible and instinct, as in this statement: Ah, said Ernst, everything is so strange and tangled. Or do I just see them that way? The absolute remains distant and eternally inaccessible, disappearing behind the poor multicolored deception we call the world or life. We make an effort like ants and yet we always circle. Will we achieve our goal? If only we could figure out what the goal is! But in that case we would have touched him. Therefore, it should be just a vague start, an instinct. But we don't even have an undefined instinct. Happy animals, because they have it! Look at that torn, tangled, contradictory instinct, which we call reason, compared to the safe and untainted one of animals. This world is very strange, Fritz.
And when Fritz dies ill, his disciples idolize him by offering him flowers and discussions about the greatness they discovered in his self and life. They honor his memory and try to follow his principles of life, being convinced of their miraculous power.