Abstract

Residual consists of a collection of interwoven short stories and poems, and attempts to explore the ways in which we interact with spaces to which we do not belong. Each piece centers around a female character who finds herself in an uncomfortable situation in her personal life or at work, and seeks to explore the complex feelings that arise as women navigate the many roles they play. The stories which are set at temporary addresses and temporary places of work, revolve around characters who are conflicted in some way and ultimately prevented from taking their preferred course of actions. Like the poems, the stories explore situations in which something is expected of the protagonists that conflicts with the expectations they have of themselves. The poems are set in contained locations at temporary addresses, and touch upon themes of displacement, loneliness and imminent absence.
         In The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard posits that the home is the space for the solitary imagining which nourishes our creativity and well-being. The house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind” (6), he writes, adding that “a house constitutes a body of images that give mankind proofs or illusions of stability” (17). In Residual, I’ve attempted to convey the experience of living outside of the stability Bachelard describes, and to ask how liminality affects our relationships, memories and understanding of ourselves.