"Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) is known for the oneiric quality of his art and films. Some of our greatest poets have worked to describe the strange power of his boxes, toy-like constructions whose playfulness and humor are anchored in a profound melancholy and loneliness." "Catherine Corman has combed through Cornell's voluminous diaries, now in the care of the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, in search of the artist's own dreams. What she found are flashes of images and short, enigmatic narratives of illumination - the verbal equivalent of Cornell boxes."--Jacket.