October 19, 2001

Nightmares About Teaching Outlast a Teaching Career

To the Editor:

I read with delight Michael Bérubé's essay on his and his wife's "anxiety dreams" ("Dream a Little Dream," The Review, September 21). I found his wife's way of ending the dream -- feigning fainting at the podium -- creative indeed. ... It's comforting to know that even our outstanding colleagues share in these anxiety-ridden nighttime events.

However, there is some bad news: These dreams do not go away. My first academic nightmare was that I missed