From the Story to Visionary Narratives

Abstract

In his analytical and partly investigative study, the Iraqi writer Mohammed Khudair explores the narration of dreams as one of the earliest and most enduring forms of storytelling. He traces the presence of visionary dreams in historical and religious texts, beginning with the dream of Enkidu as recounted to his companion in The Epic of Gilgamesh, followed by the vision of Prophet Joseph as narrated in the Holy Qur’an, and then the dream of Prophet Abraham, who saw himself sacrificing his son.

Khudair emphasizes that what unites these varied visions—whether mythological, Qur'anic, or Biblical—is the centrality of the dreamer within the narrative. The dreamer is not a passive observer but an emotionally involved figure at the core of the vision. As he states: “Perhaps the most important thing about all these visions is their indication of the presence of the dreaming human being (the narrator) at the center of the vision, and his deep emotional involvement in it.”

             He further argues that the true impact of dream narratives emerges when texts move from a pragmatic discursive level to an interpretive one, where the dream becomes a vessel of symbolic meaning and inner revelation: “The greatest effect lies in the transition of texts... where the dreaming soul becomes the locus of mysteries and the definition of transformation.”

Finally, Khudair contends that the art of narrating dreams is a literary craft best mastered by prominent authors—especially Nobel laureates such as Naguib Mahfouz—who elevate dream writing into a refined and expressive.