Editing Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (section)

==Overview==
[[File:Welsh rarebit (3436445626).jpg|right|thumb|alt=Photograph of a Welsh rarebit, melted cheese on toast.|A [[Welsh rarebit]], consisting of seasoned melted cheese on toast]]

Winsor McCay first produced ''Dream of the Rarebit Fiend'' in 1904, a year before the dream romps of his ''Little Nemo'' and a full generation before the artists of the [[Surrealism|Surrealist movement]] unleashed the [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] on the public. The strip had no recurring characters, but followed a theme: after eating a Welsh rarebit, the day's protagonist would be subject to the darker side of his psyche.{{sfn|Heer|2006}} Typically, the strip would begin with an absurd situation which became more and more absurd until the Fiend—the dreamer—awakened in the final panel. Some situations were merely silly: elephants falling from the ceiling, or two women's mink coats having a fight. Other times, they could be more disturbing:{{sfn|Petersen|2010|p=102}} characters finding themselves dismembered, buried alive from a first-person perspective{{sfn|Chute|Devoken|2012|p=80}} or a child's mother being planted and becoming a tree.{{sfn|Petersen|2010|p=102}} In some strips the Fiend was a spectator watching fantastic or horrible things happen to someone close to {{not a typo|themself}}.{{sfn|Dover Publications|1973|p=xii}} The protagonists are typically, but not always, of America’s growing middle-class urban population whom McCay subjects to fears of public humiliation, or loss of social esteem or respectability, or just the uncontrollably weird nature of being.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|pp=48, 53, 80}}

''Rarebit Fiend'' was the only one of McCay's strips in which he approached social or political topics, or dealt with contemporary life. He addressed religious leaders, alcoholism, homelessness, political speeches, suicide, fashion, and other topics, whereas his other strips were fantasy or had seemingly vague, timeless backgrounds.{{sfn|Merkl|2007b|pp=490–492}} The strip referenced contemporary events such as the [[1904 United States presidential election|1904 election]] of [[Theodore Roosevelt]]; the recently built [[Flatiron Building]] (1902) and [[St. Regis Hotel]] (1904) in New York City; and the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–05.{{sfnm|1a1=Dover Publications|1y=1973|1p=xii|2a1=Moody|2a2=Bissette|2y=2010}}

[[File:Little Nemo alone2 modified.png|thumb|left|upright=.6|alt=Drawing of a boy, Little Nemo, by Winsor McCay|McCay introduced [[Little Nemo]] in ''Dream of the Rarebit Fiend''.]]

The rarebit is a dish typically made with rich cheese thinned with [[ale]] and served melted on toast with [[Cayenne pepper|cayenne]] and [[Mustard seed|mustard]] mixed in.{{sfn|Glenn|2007}} McCay used it despite its relative innocuousness: cultural theorist [[Scott Bukatman]] states rarebit was not the sort of dish a person would associate with having nightmares,{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=57}} thereby demonstrating his unfamiliarity with a belief long held - particularly in England - that the consumption of cheese - and more especially toasted cheese - was likely to cause unpleasant dreams. <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oates|first=Caroline|date=2003|title=Cheese gives you nightmares: Old hags and heartburn.|journal=Folklore (London).|volume=114|issue=2|pages=205–225|doi=10.1080/0015587032000104220|s2cid=161962480}}</ref>

McCay's most famous character, Little Nemo, first appeared in the first year of ''Dream of the Rarebit Fiend'', on December 10, 1904.{{sfn|Canemaker|2005|p=87}} In 1905, McCay had Nemo appear in his own strip in the ''New York Herald''.{{sfn|Markstein|2007}} In comparison to ''Little Nemo'', the artwork of the ''Rarebit Fiend'' strips had minimal backgrounds,{{sfn|Dover Publications|1973|p=vii}} and were usually done from a static perspective with the main characters often in a fixed position.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|pp=60, 221}} The content of ''Rarebit Fiend'' played a much bigger role than it did in ''Little Nemo'', whose focus was on beautiful visuals.{{sfn|Merkl|2007b|p=496}} The stories were self-contained, whereas the ''Nemo'' story continued from week to week.{{sfn|Dover Publications|1973|p=vii}} The dreams in ''Nemo'' were aimed at children, but ''Rarebit Fiend'' had adult-oriented subjects—social embarrassment, fear of dying or going insane, and so on. Some of the dreams in both strips were [[Wish fulfillment|wish-fulfillment]] fantasies.{{sfn|Dover Publications|1973|pp=ix–xii}}

Unlike most comic strips from the time, ''Rarebit Fiend'' is not (directly) humorous or escapist. The strips highlight readers' darker selves—hypocrisies, deceitfulness, phobias, and discomfort. They offer often biting social commentary and show marital, money, and religious matters in a negative light.{{sfn|Heer|2006}} McCay had an interest in pushing formal boundaries, and playful [[Self-reference|self-referentiality]] plays a role in many of the strips;{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|pp=63, 87}} characters sometimes refer to McCay's alter-ego "Silas" or to the reader.{{sfn|Bukatman|2012|p=193}} Though frequent in ''Rarebit Fiend'', this self-referentiality does not appear in McCay's other strips.{{sfn|Merkl|2007b|p=492}}

In contrast to the skilled artwork, the lettering in the [[Speech balloon|dialogue balloons]], as in McCay's other work, was awkward and could approach illegibility,{{sfn|Gutjahr|Benton|2001|p=166}} especially in reproductions, where the artwork has normally been greatly reduced in size.{{sfn|Heller|2007}} McCay seemed to show little regard for the dialogue balloons, their content, and their placement in the composition. They tend to contain repetitive monologues expressing the increasing distress of the speakers, and show that McCay's gift was in the visual and not the verbal.{{sfn|Taylor|2007|p=554}}