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WHILE I SLEEP by Mary Calhoun

WHILE I SLEEP

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Pub Date: April 23rd, 1992
Publisher: Morrow

Like Ginsburg's Asleep, Asleep (below), another bedtime survey of sleepers, inspired by a child's questions. The repetitive, more pedestrian text here (""Does a boat sleep at night, Mama? Yes, dear. Boats sleep at their docks"") is also broader-ranging, going from domestic to wild animals to kinds of transportation and concluding with the sun and the curious child. Young sets his night-darkened images of the sleepers in four-inch squares that he imposes on sunny double spreads of the corresponding animals, train, etc. engaged in daytime activities, their evanescent forms distilled to impressionistic simplicity against serene, dreamlike clouds of glorious color. The idea here is trite, but Young's imaginative visualization is a pleasure.