The attic space as a place of otherness: A reflection on the articulation of Gothic elements in postmodern times

Abstract

In this article, I seek to understand the scope and meaning of the imaginary space of the attic in its relationship with the issues of alterity in its cultural aspects. I am referring to the works of Sandra Gilbert, Susan Gubar, Edward Said, as well as the authors of deconstruction. Associated with exclusion, but also with a reverse of mundane life, the attic allows an elaboration of the elements of the subject's appearance and history, coming into contact with the Lacanian theory of the mirror stage. Critical of Western values, the Gothic attic is closer to immobility, inefficiency and secrecy. On the other hand, this space is clothed with characteristics of a stasis, an inner dynamism and a life of its own. Emphasizing the importance of secrecy and limits in human life, as well as the specifically fictional character of Gothic truth, the attic space confirms its relationship with the experience of otherness. More recently, the attic space points to the assimilative power of the cultural industry.