Dobrina Manolova

Cryptic Place: How Do the Concepts of Place and Space Intertwine with Our Emotional Capacities in Shaping the Private and Public Realms of the Modern Everyday Dobrina Manolova

The book explores the connection between a person's urban surroundings and subconsciousness as a major factor in defining the concepts of "space" and "place". The author looks at how empty and abandoned space takes the form of a meaningful and emotionally- charged social haven through memory, attachment and interaction. From the boundaries of the home to shared public gardens and streets, space is endlessly moulded according to a shifting personal and social consciousness. Looking at Freud's notions of the "heimlich" and "unheimlich" takes us around a city not merely as a physical construction but as a structure inside a person's mind that could be regarded as both a personal and intimate realm, as well as shared with others in order to form an emotionally stained place of high private and public significance.