I denna uppsats studeras hus i förfall i En herrgårdssägen (1899) av Selma Lagerlöf och La casa de los espíritus (Andarnas hus) (1982) av Isabel Allende. La poétique de l’Espace (Rummets poetik) (1958) av Gaston Bachelard används för att undersöka vad det innebär för karaktärerna i dessa verk att bebo en plats i allmänhet, och ett hem i upplösning i synnerhet. Flera karaktärer från verken studeras, och ett särskilt fokus läggs vid de kvinnliga karaktärer som förknippas med övernaturliga händelser. Genom Susan Fraimans artikel “Shelter Writing” (2006) tillämpas ett feministiskt perspektiv som ifrågasätter Bachelards idé om hemmet som en moderlig omfamning och hans upptagenhet vid hushållsarbete som en nostalgisk syssla. Husen från respektive verk beskrivs både före och efter förfallet och genom Rummets poetik tillämpas ett expansivt förhållningssätt till husens lådor, koffertar och rum för att få en inblick i platsernas kopplingar till minnen, kronologi och fantasi. Fokus ligger vid hur husen uppfattas av de olika karaktärerna och att förfallets konsekvenser rentav kan vara något positivt för de drabbade. / This essay studies the motif of houses in decay in En herrgårdssägen (The Tale of a Manor) (1899) by Selma Lagerlöf and La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits) (1982) by Isabel Allende. Bachelard’s La Poétique de l’Espace (The poetics of Space) (1958) is used to examine what it means for the characters in these works to inhabit a place in general, but also a place that is disintegrating. Several characters from the works are studied, and a particular focus is placed on the characters associated with supernatural events. Through Susan Fraiman's article "Shelter Writing" (2006), a feminist perspective will be used, which questions Bachelard's idea of the home as a maternal embrace and his emphasis on housework as a nostalgic chore. The essay describes the houses from both novels before and after the decay and applies an expansive approach to the houses' boxes, trunks and rooms in order to grasp the places' connections to memories, chronology and imagination. The focus lays on how the houses are perceived individually by different characters and that the consequences of the property's decay can be downright beneficial for the characters in the works.

The ideas of Richard Sennett in his most influential book The Fall of Public Man from 1974 are many, but the main point is that the resolution of the lines between the public life and the private life has affected society, the democracy and individuals in a negative way. The main point of this essay is to understand the nature of Sennet’s thinking, ideas and philosophy and how they are connected. I am focusing on the true nature of the way he is formulating the issues and conflicts he is dealing with. Even though Sennett is a very influential thinker, very few people actually have analyzed his works, especially The Fall of Public Man. “Res publica” is the Roman expression of the bigger responsibility each citizen has in a society that goes beyond themselves. This is when you are a part of something bigger than yourself, your friends and your family, you are a part of a close connected community and society. You are not strangers to each other, you are all one. This is exactly the type of society that sociology professor of London School of Economics Richard Sennett means has gone away. Richard Sennett is often described as a person standing on the left on the political scale when it comes to economics and at the same time culturally conservative. The result of this essay shows that Richard Sennett blames industrial capitalism, secularism and urban planning for the new modern society when the distinction between public life and private life has gone away. This is the new kind of society in the western world where people shifted focus from an extrovert personality to an introvert one, a world where we are trapped in our own minds instead of stepping out of it and actually living in it. Many times, the sociology professor goes back to the mid 18th century to understand the thriving public life in Paris and London. My theoretical perspective is based upon Collingwoods thoughts about question and answer which you need to understand the question in order to understand the thinker's answer. You could call Sennett either a nostalgic or a very sharp critic of the modern world, it all depends on how much you resonate and believe in his ideas.