A dwelling is quite clearly a physical entity; it is its structure that keeps us dry, warm and secure. It prevents intrusion by unwanted others and allows us to pursue our own interests in relative peace and quiet. But this physicality also allows us to develop attachments and to form relationships within the boundaries of the dwelling. The physical space we call a house is therefore full of meaning for us. While it can protect, it can also exclude, and one must take care not to exclude all and become isolated, to create anxiety rather than security.This books explores the relationship between the physicality of dwelling and the subjective meanings we attach to it, in particular, examining how we use the dwelling to ensure privacy. It is concerned with this dichotomy between exclusion and inclusion, between the private and the social. Using innovative theoretical concepts which combine philosophical analysis and literary and film criticism, it puts forward an innovative and insightful new approach to looking at housing. It draws on the work of thinkers such as George Hegel, Emmanuel Levinas and Soren Kierkegaard, the films of Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch and Bela Tarr and the fiction of Charles Dickens and John Irving to explore issues of exclusion, isolation, anxiety, privacy and the relations between parent and child.
Industry Reviews
'Peter King has produced an idiosyncratic and highly readable contribution to analyzing the concept of "dwelling". The book is thought-provoking, insightful and entertaining. In engaging with an impressive range of theory and popular culture, it takes numerous unexpected turns with wit and originality. I can think of no other writer who can provide such an accessible examination of subjectivity and the home through an eclectic yet rewarding mix of philosophy, sociology, literature and film.' Tony Manzi, University of Westminster, UK 'Following the reiterative and circular narratives of Derrida, this book shows us housing and home as resulting from the acts of finding place, settling in and keeping it mine. Peter King uses autobiography, film criticism and philosophical speculation to show how places become wrapped up in our sense of self and other. Other than policy leads us to believe, our dwellings are filled with human traces of habitation, attachment, memory and feeling. The book thus offers an intuitive and impressionistic account of housing that calls for original ways of thinking and writing on the place we most care about.' Leeke Reinders, Technical University, Delft, The Netherlands 'This book is a valuable addition to the King canon. It deals with issues at the heart of the relationship between people and their dwelling. It offers a focus for the future direction of housing studies.' Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 'Peter King's new book is an ambitious, beautifully constructed and thought-provoking attempt to reframe elements of our understanding of dwelling based around his key concepts of implacability, exclusion and acceptance...' Housing Studies 'Seven chapters of well-written narrative unfold ideas about implacability and exclusion as experiences of dwelling, the presence of reiterative movements in closing and opening relations, of getting inside and outside, of finding secure hiding places, and the dreadful consequences of losing