The Poetics of Space

Praise for Gaston Bachelard:”[Bachelard] is neither a self-confessed and tortured atheist like Satre, nor, like Chardin, a heretic combining a belief in God with a proficiency in modern science. But, within the French context, he is almost as important as they are because he has a pseudo-religious force, without taking a stand on religion. To define him as briefly as possible – he is a philosopher, with a professional training in the sciences, who devoted most of the second phase of his career to promoting that aspect of human nature which often seems most inimical to science: the poetic imagination …”– J.G. Weightman, The New York Times Review of Books”[Bachelard] reminds me of skilled chess players who take the biggest pieces with pawns.”-Michel Foucault (trans.)Praise for Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves:“Any hope or fear that the experimental novel was an aberration of the twentieth century is dashed by the appearance of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, the first major experimental novel of the new millennium. And it’s a monster. Dazzling.”-Washington Post Book World“An intricate, erudite, and deeply frightening book.” - The Wall Street Journal

Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) was the son of shoemakers who went on to have an illustrious academic career. He is credited with a renewal of emphasis on symbol and poetic meaning in architecture.

Mark Z. Danielewski is the bestselling author of several novels, including House of Leaves and the National Book Award Finalist Only Revolutions. He lives in New York City.

Richard Kearney is an author, a philosopher, and the Charles B. Seelig Chair of Philosophy at Boston College.