ABSTRACT
Sleep has always been one of those great mysteries of life, something we all do but no less mysterious for that. In this chapter I take a preliminary look at the nature and status of sleep, and at attempts to unravel its causes, complexities and mysteries, with particular reference to some of the main philosophical, scientific and literary sources and contributions to this debate through the ages, from ancient to modern times: a history of changing ideas, theories and explanations of sleep, or the social construction of sleep if you like, including past and present discourses and debates on the pains if not the pathologies of sleep and the weird and wonderful world of dreams and dreaming, albeit as subsidiary themes. The chapter, in this respect, provides a first stab at the nature and status of the phenomenon under investigation and a backdrop to some of the other more sociological themes and issues that follow.
