The Poetics of Space: writing about intimate spaces

The Poetics of Space with Helen Hagemann

Friday, 16th June, 1pm-3pm. This workshop is about taking a journey into intimate spaces, through old houses, dream homes, cellars, attics, verandahs, sheds, up stairs, under stairs, even where a whole house might serve as a portal to the imagination. Writers will read sections of Gaston Bachelard's text "The Poetics of Space" and writing exercises will ponder miniature spaces, the significance of doorknobs, even consider the houses of things: drawers, chests and wardrobes.
Venue: Fremantle Arts Centre, Upstairs Room, however check at desk. Time: 1-3pm. What to bring: Notepad, pen, laptop or iPad Cost: OOTA $20 - NON-OOTA $25 (ask for membership form to save). For information on joining OOTA and what we do, please visit our website ootawriters.com

Bachelard determines that the house has both unity and complexity, it is made out of memories and experiences, its different parts arouse different sensations at yet it brings up a unitary, intimate experience of living. Such experiential qualities are what Bachelard finds in the poetry and prose he analyzes. Home objects for Bachelard are charged with mental experience. A cabinet opened is a world revealed, drawers are places of secrets, and with every habitual action we open endless dimensions of our existence.  
      In "The Poetics of Space" Bachelard introduces his concept of topoanlysis, which he defines as the systematic psychological studying of the sites of our intimate lives. The house, the most intimate of all spaces, "protects the daydreamer" and therefore understanding the house is for Bachelard a way to understand the soul.