Edgar Allen Poe?s famous quote ?Sleep, those little slices of death; Oh how I loathe them? really makes the dream state seem creepy.

Dreaming, of course, is a normal part of the sleep pattern, but that hasn?t stopped science-fiction and horror visionaries from exploring the possibilities of this state of being.

Dreaming is a part of the consciousness that we frankly know little about. It has been examined by great minds such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Certainly, the sleep process and its varying stages have been thoroughly researched, and sleep clinics treat people with various sleep disorders. Medications fill pharmacy shelves helping people achieve a good night?s sleep.

Book stores and library shelves have no shortage of books that not only detail the sleep process, but attempt to apply symbolic meanings to dream imagery. William Dement?s book "Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep" is one of the best I?ve read regarding the sleep process, while Gustavus Miller?s classic "10,000 Dreams Interpreted" still stands out as more than 100 years after it was first published.

In the film ?2010: The Year We Make Contact,? the sequel to ?2001: A Space Odyssey,? the computer HAL connects the state of existence and humanity to dreaming. As he is about to be destroyed, he asks the haunting question: ?Dr. Chandra, Will I dream?? HAL?s question has some far reaching implications for the field of artificial intelligence. Without our dreams, we simply aren?t much of anything: HAL seemed to understand that, which is frightening in its own right.

Of course, ?The Nightmare on Elm Street? series is the most famous popular culture example of the exploration of the dark side of dreams. Freddy Krueger represented the deepest, darkest, perverted ideas that reside in the subconscious. He was a physical manifestation of the thing people hide in their subconscious and the warning was clear: dark desires will ultimately destroy you.

With his red and green striped shirt, mangled fedora, and razor claw fingers, Freddy Krueger became a cultural icon of the AIDs generation. A television series, several sequels and clever merchandising made Freddy Krueger a household name.

Not all attempts to portray the world of dreams have been as successful. The 1984 film ?Dreamscape? tried hard to explore the possibility of people entering each other?s dreams, but it got bogged down by a romantic subplot between a young Dennis Quaid and Kate Capshaw. In the end, ?Dreamscape? did manage to be an interesting film, more for its apocalyptic vision than for breaking any new ground on dreams.

But the recent masterpiece regarding the dream state has to be ?The Matrix.? While the term dream isn?t entirely appropriate, there is no doubt that all of the humans? consciousness has been shut off and they are being fed a lie by the machines that are controlling their world. The world they take for reality exists only in their subconscious. Undoubtedly, the humans in ?The Matrix? are a victim of a sort of dream state which they do not control.

It is, however, the literary world which has done a more credible job examining the power of dreams. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his famous and widely taught 1835 short story ?Young Goodman Brown? shows how Goodman Brown, once he sees the dark side of his fellow villagers in what appears to be a dream sequence, is unable to find happiness for the rest of his days. While Hawthorne?s story is often looked at for its reflection of Puritan beliefs, this story shows how strongly dreams can affect reality.

In her novel ?The Lathe of Heaven?, Ursula LeGuin crafts a novel about a man, aptly named George Orr (the similarity to the name George Orwell is uncanny) whose dreams become reality. He visits Dr. Haber for help. Haber though, tries to use George as a tool (hence the title of the novel), using his dreams to change reality.

What emerges from this relatively brief but powerful novel is a haunting, apocalyptic dystopia brought on by nothing more than one person?s thoughts. Predictably, Haber?s attempt to play God end up creating more problems than are solved, and what emerges is a commentary on the destructive nature of a single man?s vision.

Yet all of the speculation, research, and analysis of dreams has not definitively answered the central questions people have. What exactly are dreams, and what do they mean? Dana Scully, in the episode "Aubrey" from the second season of "The X-Files," gives what I believe to be the best answer: "Dreams are answers to questions we haven't yet figured out how to ask."

Maybe it's time we ask.

Homework

?The Lathe of Heaven? ? Ursula K. LeGuin
?Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep ? William C. Dement
?10,000 Dreams Interpreted? ? Gustavus Hindman Miller

Dan Compora is an associate professor at the University of Toledo, and contributes SciFi 101 twice monthly for Airlock Alpha. He can be reached at drdan@airlockalpha.com.