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Gaston Bachelard

The Poetics of Space Paperback – April 1, 1994

by Gaston Bachelard (Author), Maria Jolas (Translator), John R. Stilgoe (Foreword)

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Thirty years since its first publication in English, French philosopher Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space one of the most appealing and lyrical explorations of home. Bachelard takes us on a journey, from cellar to attic, to show how our perceptions of houses and other shelters shape our thoughts, memories, and dreams.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Beacon Press
Publication date

April 1, 1994
Dimensions

5.39 x 0.85 x 8.01 inches
ISBN-10

0807064734
ISBN-13

978-0807064733
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is a deep, magical, densely captivating book about space, our homes, how we live in them, and how dwellings and space affect us; it is as much a book of philosophy as a work of serious literature. It requires careful, preferably leisurely reading, with the possibility of moments to pause and digest and re-read the words. It will change the way you look at your home and your life, providing a deeper, more insightful relationship with the spaces you occupy.

From Publishers Weekly

French phenomenologist Bachelard's classic study of the psychological affects of domestic space.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press; Reprint edition (April 1, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807064734
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807064733
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.39 x 0.85 x 8.01 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #442,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #113 in Phenomenological Philosophy
- #638 in Consciousness & Thought Philosophy
- #5,927 in Home Improvement & Design Books

Customer Reviews:
802 ratings

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Gaston Bachelard
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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

802 global ratings

5 star		77%
4 star		11%
3 star		6%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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The Drive Behind All Art And Poetry

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 2, 2019

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I LOVE this book. I’m a freshman in college now(and holy crap @ that) and an art major, and when I read the first excerpts from this for my favorite class, I bought it immediately— despite not needing to. Gaston Bachelard speaks to the root of poetic experience, how we perceive and affect the spaces around us; in effect, that our perceptions and memories *create* places in our existence that are both “real” memory and that filter of subjectivity.

Look, I’m exhausted and I can’t really express both how fascinating and fantastic this book is and WHY it’s fantastic. But if you are a writer, a poet, a musician, or any kind of artist, or really, if you’re a thinking and perceptive human being, take the chance on reading this. It lifted my soul up, I swear to god: it reads like a scientist had a completely immersive acid trip and devoted the rest of his life to looking for the meaning of art— and thus, life.

A note: at first, the language may seem super-dense and off-putting. STICK WITH IT. It finds its own almost poetic rhythm.

81 people found this helpful

Arrived damaged

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 12, 2023

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Back cover page was damaged and it didn't look like a new book.

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Full of insights, but too dense for me.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 8, 2022

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Very heavy to read, very long sentences with multiple ideas. Hard to follow.

Kindle Customer

Poetic Daydreaming Philosophies

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book was an optional resource in a class I took years back, so I bought it and returned to finish only recently. I have it 4 stars based on an optimistic view of what I might have grasped had I a background of education in the underlying philosophies comprising concepts discussed. I plowed through many obscurity only to find within much beauty. The book as a whole felt to me as a prose poem. The quotes and references mainly are to French poets I've never heard of, but he does include much Rilke who has long been one of my favorites, and I acquired an expanded perspective there. There is an ephemeral, dreamlike quality and references to hashish make me wonder if chemicals were involved!

5 people found this helpful

The Poetics of Space is a classic book...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 3, 2012

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I read this book as a graduate student in Boston about 40 years ago, and re-purchased it just recently to have a second leisurely look at it...to remember its beauty and provocative meanings. This book changed my life in a wonderful way; it gave me a new vocabulary to understand my experiences of living, it confirmed and affirmed how I daily lived with a personal 'poetics' called Me...
Professor Gaston Bachelard, from France, defined a sensibility and sensitivity called "intimate immensities", which is one way of expressing a pantheistic and human "phenomenology". If you are an artist or musician or poet, etc. you "got it in you" and you recognize "it" in everything around you... Lao Tzu in ancient China called it the Tao, there are many other names from many countries and cultures...

The only caution I would note about this book, is that it is densely written in a professorial philosophical way; it not a casual read. I can suggest many children's picture books that express a similar sentiment, more with pictures than with university-level text. But if you enjoy "a sudden salience on the surface of the psyche" (page 1 of the Introduction), then this book is for you...

41 people found this helpful

David R. Scheer

The classic work of architectural phenomenology

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 21, 2005

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Phenomenology is the school of philosophy that claims to begin its analysis of existence with a careful study of human experience. Its founder, Edmund Husserl, and its most famous exponent, Martin Heidegger, laid its groundwork with studies of the epistemological foundations of science and the nature of Being. Bachelard apples their methods to architecture, basing his analysis not on purported origins (as was the trend in Enlightenment thinking about architecture) but on lived experience of architecture. He is thus led to consider such emotionally charged spatial types as the attic, the cellar, drawers and the like. In its emphasis on actual experience, it is refreshingly real, in contrast to much recent architectural theory that treats architecture as "text". The proof of the phenomenological pudding is always in the reader's response to the experiences being described. Bachelard is an exceptionally acute writer of such descriptions. This book implicitly urges architects to base their work on the experiences it will engender rather than on abstract rationales that may or may not affect viewers and users of architecture.

43 people found this helpful

Matthew G. Belge

A deep, inspiring book that changed how I look at things

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 1, 1997

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The Poetics of Space is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. It is to be taken slowly - the author's primary idea is that people crave spaces that inspire them to daydream. The style of the book is one that inspires daydreams itself; you will suddenly find that you have placed the book in your lap and you were off daydreaming! Poetics of Space is a methodical, carefully argued book which tells us that we read spaces like we read a book. There is a distinct psychology to each type of space - attics, cellars, the forest, and nests are just some of the spaces examined. The author was chair of the Philosophy department at the Sorbonne. For most of his life, he examined the philosophy of science, but in his later years he turned to artistic reverie as his main subject. The book is written with thought, love, and passion and is a tour-de-force. Highly recommended to those who enjoy poetry, philosophy, architecture or art.

230 people found this helpful

Douglas L. Thompson

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 1, 2022

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Lovely

One person found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Mr. Peter Shenton

perfect lockdown reading for creative people

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 7, 2020

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This is a beautifully written and inspiring book about the house as a locus for the imagination. I could live without the introduction, which is a bit academic. You might find it interesting if you are an academic or want to delve into the thinking behind the book but my recommendation would be to jump straight in to the first chapter (and maybe read the introduction after.

12 people found this helpful

Lloyd

What’s it all about, Gaston?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 12, 2019

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Seduced by the title, I bought it. But by page 27 I had failed to understand a word of it and gave up. It has the most convoluted introduction I have ever attempted to read (by Mark Z Danielewski - note the Z). Finally, it’s the most unpoetic book I’ve ever clapped eyes on; torturous academic prose at its worst. Just go and read some poetry in places you find aesthetically pleasing.

16 people found this helpful

S. Scolaro

Quite a laborious read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 12, 2016

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Quite a laborious read, partly due to the translation into English. Some paragraphs are complete gibberish in its flowery language. Saying that, there are a few points made which resonate with regards to home and the safety or terror it provides.

8 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Beautifully packed, so arrived in excellent condition.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

I loved this book, very inspiring, and I will buy other books by this authour.

3 people found this helpful

Caty

One of the most contemplative pieces of theory around

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 16, 2004

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French cultural theory is known for its wordiness and complexity, and yet in 'The Poetics of Space', Bachelard largely transcends these potential pitfalls and instead produces a meditative, poetic book that was not what I expected. It is still theory, and so not a light read, but the daydreams and thoughts this book inspires whilst reading make it far from an arduous text. What makes this book special is its amazingly straightforward subject matter: the spaces in which we live - cellars, corners, wardrobes, shells - and reading it makes you wonder why there has been so little theoretical consideration of such an important aspect of human life. The synthesis of theory, literature and architecture in this book is an unusual one, but fascinating in its originality.
Bachelard approaches philosophy from the angle of poetry, using a number of different poets and writers to illustrate and expand upon his discussion of how people experience and think about the spaces we inhabit. Quite a different tack from most theory, but as he writes, "How much philosophers would learn, if they would consent to read the poets!" I'm not a fan of poetry, but I'll certainly be following up on a few poets quoted, especially Rilke - Bachelard discusses their work with real insight. Nonetheless, he writes phenomenology rather than literary criticism, yet the extensive use of quotation does not feel at all extraneous to his argument. 'The Poetics of Space' is perhaps aesthetic philosphy that integrates creativity and thought better than anything else I've read.
Why not five stars? It takes a little while to get into Bachelard's style, and the theory-dense introduction is not the easiest of openings. Nonetheless, as you acclimatise to his way of thought, the book gets better and better; the penultimate chapter on "intimate immensity" is a beautiful consideration of human fascination with deserts and the sea. I think it is a book I will be coming back to, and I suspect it will reveal itself more with each reading.

151 people found this helpful

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