Abstract

In the mid-nineteenth century vision becomes the primary sense, in interpreting the world and understanding a "reality" that was believed to stand behind a surface of appearances. This dissertation addresses the interaction between this visual paradigm and the subject's perception of his/her surrounding space. Specifically, it traces one particular space --the space Gaston Bachelard has deemed being "poetic space." In this settled space the subject is "at home." ;At the time that vision was solidifying as the model for knowledge, this settled space was located in private space. In the last half of the nineteenth century, however, vision penetrates this private space, and settled space is replaced by a form of uncanny space. In the wake of this disappearing space of settledness, the nineteenth-century subject must seek out a different space that allows one "to be at home in the world." Subtle changes in subjectivity make this re-formed subject seek boundaries. Instead of being at home in the private space of the house, this subject will be at home in enclosed space. One such space is the space of the nineteenth-century arcade. ;The dissertation ends with what I believe to be the contemporary location of settled space. The relentless vision that Michel Foucault has characterized as a product of modernity, and settled space are finally able to reside together in this new public space. Thus in contemporary American culture, the space where the subject feels settledness, the space that carries with it the reference of "homeness" has left the confines of the house. Instead "homeness" has attached itself to this new public space--consumer entertainment space-- and has subtly and profoundly problematized the traditional reference points of public and private space