Charles Baxter: On the Plausibility of Dreams (July 2019)

While we’re dreaming, we almost never think that the dream is implausible. Similarly, while we’re reading or watching a movie, we’re likely to ignore problems of plausibility, particularly if the novel or film embodies a wish or a fear. Baxter discusses works by Fitzgerald, Robert Bly, Carmen Maria Machado, and others to raise a question about plausibility in stories when the overall mood removes or finesses our demands for believability. Truth, in such cases, gives way to astonishment and longing.