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altered book, dream, palimpsest
The Compleat Enchanter

The Compleat Enchanter is from a series entitled Dream Palimpsests— artist books evoking dreams. Dreams, like palimpsests are glimpses—fragments of information containing stories and history—a plethora of information once clearly known and accessible, now disguised with the intrusion of the waking world. Memories, fears, passions, and desires—the hefty weight of the intangible combine with the random physicality of words, symbols, and ob·jets d'art which bore purposeful reason in the twilight. Lucid dreaming, daydreaming, recurring dreams, and nightmares may give a multi-faceted, multilayered glimpse into the psyche if we could only interpret the wild and uncensored jumble that bombards us in our sleep.


*Definition of Palimpsest
(noun \pa-lem(p)-sest)

1. writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased

2. something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface

Origin: Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos scraped again, from palin + psen to rub, scrape; akin to Sanskrit psati, babhasti he chews

First Known Use: 1825

*Merriam-Webster