The Poetics of Space

"The house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace."

Rare is the work of philosophy that offers itself as an inviting indulgence to both the casual book-lover and the professor. Rare as well is that text so universal that luminaries across an array of fields lay claim to it. Here, then, is Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space- brimming with quiet revelations relevant to daily life and so lyrical that it can be read for its poignant, mysterious imagery alone. Beloved and studied by philosophers, architects, writers, and literary theorists alike, Bachelard's landmark work takes as its premise the emergence of the poetic image and finds an ideal metaphor in the intimate spaces of our abodes . Guiding us through a stream of cerebral meditations on poetry, art, and the blooming of consciousness itself, Bachelard examines the places where we put our dreams and memories. Houses and rooms; cellars and attics; drawers, chests and wardrobes; nests and shells; nooks and corners- no space is too vast or too small to be filled by our thoughts and our reveries. In Bachelard's enchanting spaces,