The Sleep of Reason

The Sleep of Reason by Michael Swanwick, with illustrations from Goya.

The Noösphere is the ocean of thought within which we all live, dream, make love, and sometimes aspire. It is purified by reason. It is polluted by war and madness. And, like a river so badly polluted it catches fire, the Noösphere in times of war and madness can be a dangerous thing.

In a time of war and madness, the man who might well have been Goya fell asleep, and his dreams caught fire. They congealed and took form and entered the physical world. As cats and owls and bats and less wholesome creatures, winged, furred and fanged, they leaped into the night, and filled the skies with their keening presence.


What an interesting site... was brainstorming on a weird story and one of Goya's paintings popped into my mind. It started with 'dream'. I can vividly recall the owls and monsters looming large behind the sleeping woman. Then I googled. The full title is 'The sleep of reason produces nightmares'. And someone even wrote stories on each of Goya's plate!