Joëlle Roseman: charles in slumberland, dream and comic strip

Little Nemo in Slumberland, a comic strip drawn by W. McCay, explores the dream world of a young boy. It represents many corporal sensations, transformations and anxieties. The interest it held for Charles, an adolescent in psychotherapy, allowed it to be used as a form of mediation in the transference. It served to awaken him to his inner world, but also acted as a protective shield against excitations, enabling psychical elaboration work.