Yi-Fu Tuan said the mind makes a place when it attends to space. First there is unregarded space. Something, a flower in a field, a bug on a peach, catches the mind’s attention, and voilà, now there is a place.
Edward Casey, on the other hand, pointed out that space is a consequence, rather than a forerunner, of place. Space comes to be as places fill, occupy, and take up space. Places define spaces. Before place there is no space.
Place then isn’t so much a matter of geography as awareness.
Books are excellent places. I return to books much as I return to favorite forests or cities or parks. My mind lands on a book, moves about, sees what’s available, takes root, or travels on. People build them. People occupy them.
I’m happy to announce that The Names of Things will be published in one month by Ashland Creek Press. Happy? I’m aquiver. A new place! All it needs are visitors. Come on over.
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