Nocturnes: A Passage of Dreams

Nocturnes: A Passage of Dreams is a play about grief and love. Their primal intimacy is its story.

Nocturnes thinks that what was painfully learned about love and grief in the early 20th century remains troublingly true.  Julia Kristeva puts it well: "...the insolence of the Freudian discovery was to show this: there is no love but failed love". Here is to failed love. May we survive it, learn from it, and outlive it.

Download the PDF for free here.

The printed book and ebook can be purchased here.

Praise from the critics

Nocturnes “is an unusual, interesting and adventurous volume… [it] hits the mark both for the emotional content in dealing with grief and loss, which is very satisfying, and for the use of poetic language that engages the reader from beginning to end.” - Gary Smith, North & West Melbourne News

‘Beauty can emerge from pain as Brendan Gleeson demonstrates with this powerful evocation. The scope of his vision and imagination is remarkable, as is the evidence of growth. Brendan has always written with poetic flair. In this collection of poems and essays he taps into his dreams and lets his poetic brain free’. - Julianne Schultz AM FAHA