Gaston Bachelard: The Poetics Of Space
One of the most memorable books by Gaston Bachelard is The Poetics of Space , in which he analyzes the rooms of a house in a particularly impressive way.
Very few notable intellectuals have studied the rooms of a house. Bachelard turned the subject into a wonderful poetic reflection and defined it as “topoanalysis”.
With regard to the rooms of a house, Bachelard pointed out that “ the image of the house seems to have become the topography of our intimate being ”. In addition, an outer space is a reflection of an inner world.
Gaston Bachelard: Beloved rooms of a house
Gaston Bachelard points out that houses offer protection. The rooms of a house are living rooms. They therefore have little to do with geometry or architecture.
Every place and object has memories and meanings based on the things they saw.
A nest
When we learn to inhabit a house from this wonderful French philosopher, we also learn to inhabit our inner world. The rooms of a house are part of us just as we are part of them.
He compares a house to a nest or a bowl. He means that a house is symbolically the place where life arises and which also finds refuge.
He also makes an analogy between the house and the womb. Indeed, for him, a house is a symbolic extension of a mother. A house is like a mother who protects, watches over and hugs us.
Gaston Bachelard: The real house and the dream house
Bachelard points out that there is a real home and a dream home. We always have a dream home in mind. In addition, we also live in the rooms of this dream home. We design it, we know its location and we inhabit it especially in moments of disagreement.
The dream apartment has none of the shortcomings of the person’s real home. Unfortunately, it belongs to the dream world and remains within us as an ideal to be achieved. In addition, we never give up.
For Bachelard, privacy needs a nest. From now on, just as life requires physical space to unfold, dreams also require their own imaginary spaces.
The corners, the objects
Gaston Bachelard described house corners as the rooms with the greatest importance. In one way or another, each person chooses a small space in their home to live in to the full.
This is where we spent most of the time. It is almost always our bedroom, although it can be a den, garden, study, etc. These corners tell a lot about the way we deal with ourselves and life.
Within the rooms of a house there are also objects that are the additional residents of the place. Bachelard gives cupboards, drawers and chests a special meaning. Symbolically, these are the places of secrecy and hoarding. In general, they are metaphors of what is also carefully kept in our mental nooks and crannies.
Opening a cabinet, chest of drawers or a drawer always makes us shudder to a certain extent, according to Bachelard. By analyzing what people keep in these places, you can get a feel for who they are.
All rooms of a house and all objects in them tell a lot about those who live in them. What do your house and possessions say about you?
