August 2024 Marxist Knitting Club: Reading from Gaston Bachelard

I'd like to start by quickly thanking all those who attended our first session in July; it was truly overwhelming (positive) to see so many of you in the room, and especially heartwarming to be part of our rigorous, thought-provoking discussion. I look forward to spending many more months with you all as we pick away at relevant topics and texts! 

Now, onto some housekeeping: starting this month, you'll no longer need to sign up for MKC in order to reserve your spot or receive the homework. Instead, anyone who wishes to attend may do so, and the readings and associated media will be hosted here on our blog (we'll post on our socials once they're up and available each month) for those who'd like to read along from afar. 

With that out of the way, I'm pleased to share our August "homework," an excerpt from Gaston Bachelard's 1958 book, The Poetics of Space. This book is simultaneously a groundbreaking work of phenomenological thought, and one of the warmest, most cheery, pleasant works of philosophy out there. Bachelard, a historian of science, is interested in exploring ways of answering the question of what constitutes the human imagination, dreams, the soul; he uses the idea of house architecture, and the generalized experience of having memories of living somewhere, especially as a kid, to make the case for a universal experience of imagination (and poetry!) among all humans. 

The PDF attached is 14 pages, but we'll only be discussing the first 8 pages – up through the beginning of section V. If you're enjoying it, you're welcome to read more (a PDF of an earlier translation of the entire book is available here through Evergreen College).

Homework

PDF: Excerpt from Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (Pages 1–8, PDF)

Bonus supplementary material for this month, if you want some, is episode 91 of Weird Studies podcast, on Susanna Clarke's novel Piranesi (another incredible book if you're looking for more to read!)

. . .

Thank you all so much for being part of this project, and I'll see you on August 27th! 

Yr faithful comrade,

Meredith