Escaping the End of Times: Dreams in Late Ming China -- Brigid E. Vance, Hardcover

Escaping the End of Times invites readers to explore the intricate relationships between dreams, politics, and the Chinese writing system in early modern China. Thoroughly researched and written in an accessible manner, this book presents a series of historical encounters that reveal how scholars countered dramatic instability by compiling and editing dream texts. Readers learn how these scholars translated their dreams into action, used the past to bolster their status, reaffirmed their preferred societal order, merged myth and history, and interpreted their dreams and the dreams of others through creative techniques grounded in scholarly tradition. By combining detailed research with captivating storytelling, this book not only brings the world of late Ming dream analysis to life but also demonstrates the relevance of the past to the stories we tell now about ourselves and our own dreams.

Author: Brigid E. Vance
Publisher: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
Published: 11/01/2025
Pages: 260
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9789882373679

About the Author
Brigid E. Vance, currently an associate professor of History at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, earned a PhD in History at Princeton University (2012) and a certificate in Further Education in Analytical Psychology from the CG Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland (2017). Her article, "Finding Their Voice: Student Podcasts on the East Asian Collection at Lawrence University's Wriston Galleries" (The History Teacher 2021) won the 2022 American Historical Association William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for the best essay on teaching history. In 2020, Lawrence University recognized her exemplary pedagogy with the Award for Excellent Teaching by an Early Career Faculty Member.