The Oneironauts
Date of Award
Spring 6-12-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in English
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts
First Advisor
Patrick Cottrell
Second Advisor
Joanna Howard
Third Advisor
Bin Ramke
Fourth Advisor
Luc Beaudoin
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
Literary arts, Creative writing, Fiction
Abstract
The Oneironauts is a novel that follows the participants of a research study, conducted at a fictional university, who are left to their own devices when the project lead, known only as “the good doctor,” goes missing. In the doctor’s absence, the participants discuss the dream symptoms that convinced them to enlist in the study. In “Memory Gardens,” “the novelist” explains the oneiric influences behind her detective series, including the works of Jorge Luis Borges and her own troubled dreams of political violence. In “Messenger Games,” “the student” details the dream experiments she used to explore her remote visions of the sinking of the MV Sewol, a disaster which killed hundreds of high school students. In “Merchant of Dreams,” “the merchant” recalls the radical dreams she transcribed during the civil unrest leading up to the 1987 June Democratic Struggle. In the epilogue, the narrator recounts their surreal experiences as a total insomniac as they navigate through visions of dark times.
Copyright Date
6-2026
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.
Rights Holder
Catherine (Tae Hu) Kim
Provenance
Received from Author
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
147 pgs
File Size
663 KB
Recommended Citation
Kim, Catherine (Tae Hu), "The Oneironauts" (2026). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2728.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2728