The Poetics of Space: Analyzing Symbolism of Domestic Spaces in A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear

Abstract

The given scholarly article applies the phenomenology approach developed by Gaston Bachelard in his book The Poetics of Space (1958) to provide an analysis of the symbolic manifestations of domestic spaces in the novella A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear  (2002) written by Atiq Rahimi. Through a careful study of how the architectural spaces of corridors, rooms, terraces, underground holes, and carpets can be intimately employed as multifaceted metaphors of the theme of exile, psychological trauma, and fragmentation of identity in the context of the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989), the paper will explain how Rahimi unconsciously turns the notion of felicitous space as traditionally places of psychic integration and reverie into the dark realms of alienation and disorientation. This reversal is well-informed by the fact that Rahimi, having left Afghanistan to France in 1984, had the autobiographical experiences of being displaced due to political unrest (Amine, 2023). A close analysis of textual examples, these spatial symbols are shown not only to indicate an internal break of the main character but also to support other discourses in Afghan diaspora literature, the extensive chewing of the war on personal and cultural identity. The literature review summarizes already available literature on the translingual works of Rahimi, the narratives of Afghan exiles, and the investigation of Bachelard topoanalysis in the literary criticism and finds a gap in critical approaches to the works of Rahimi and his spatial poetics. In the end, the paper will claim that the innovative application of spatial symbolism on the part of Rahimi emphasizes the fact that conflict has instigated psychic displacement, which has turned seemingly homely spaces into fear-inducing twists and turns of fear, loss, and existential nothingness, making phenomenological accounts of postcolonial trauma all the more dynamic.

keywords : Gaston Bachelard, Atiq Rahimi, domestic symbolism, exile literature, Afghan diaspora, phenomenology of space, psychological trauma, Soviet-Afghan War.