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The Memory of Place: A Phenomenology of the Uncanny
From the frozen landscapes of the Antarctic to the haunted houses of childhood, the memory of places we experience is fundamental to a sense of self. Drawing on influences as diverse as Merleau-Ponty, Freud, and J. G. Ballard, The Memory of Place charts the memorial landscape that is written into the body and its experience of the world.
Dylan Trigg’s The Memory of Place offers a lively and original intervention into contemporary debates within “place studies,” an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of philosophy, geography, architecture, urban design, and environmental studies. Through a series of provocative investigations, Trigg analyzes monuments in the representation of public memory; “transitional” contexts, such as airports and highway rest stops; and the “ruins” of both memory and place in sites such as Auschwitz. While developing these original analyses, Trigg engages in thoughtful and innovative ways with the philosophical and literary tradition, from Gaston Bachelard to Pierre Nora, H. P. Lovecraft to Martin Heidegger. Breathing a strange new life into phenomenology, The Memory of Place argues that the eerie disquiet of the uncanny is at the core of the remembering body, and thus of ourselves. The result is a compelling and novel rethinking of memory and place that should spark new conversations across the field of place studies.
Edward S. Casey, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University and widely recognized as the leading scholar on phenomenology of place, calls The Memory of Place “genuinely unique and a signal addition to phenomenological literature. It fills a significant gap, and it does so with eloquence and force.” He predicts that Trigg’s book will be “immediately recognized as a major original work in phenomenology.”
Dylan Trigg’s The Memory of Place offers a lively and original intervention into contemporary debates within “place studies,” an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of philosophy, geography, architecture, urban design, and environmental studies. Through a series of provocative investigations, Trigg analyzes monuments in the representation of public memory; “transitional” contexts, such as airports and highway rest stops; and the “ruins” of both memory and place in sites such as Auschwitz. While developing these original analyses, Trigg engages in thoughtful and innovative ways with the philosophical and literary tradition, from Gaston Bachelard to Pierre Nora, H. P. Lovecraft to Martin Heidegger. Breathing a strange new life into phenomenology, The Memory of Place argues that the eerie disquiet of the uncanny is at the core of the remembering body, and thus of ourselves. The result is a compelling and novel rethinking of memory and place that should spark new conversations across the field of place studies.
Edward S. Casey, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University and widely recognized as the leading scholar on phenomenology of place, calls The Memory of Place “genuinely unique and a signal addition to phenomenological literature. It fills a significant gap, and it does so with eloquence and force.” He predicts that Trigg’s book will be “immediately recognized as a major original work in phenomenology.”
380 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 4, 2017
My favorite part is the truly excellent commentary on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, which is included in the final chapter. This is probably Trigg's best book, and arguably the best book on phenomenology I've read. Highly recommended.
May 6, 2019
Trigg's book is a fascinating look at the relation of place to the uncanny, to traumatic memory, to ruins, monuments and fiction. Looking at place and the body through the work of phenomenology, in particular the work of Merleau-Ponty ensures that place becomes a lived experience, a sentient and central part of life, history and memory. It is uncanny and spectral filled with the ghosts of the past, the happenings of the present and will be in the future. Trigg's discussion of the tangibility that phenomenology offers and its relation to the experiences of the body in place and space make this book as important as Anthony Vidler's exploration of the architectural uncanny.
December 9, 2023
A fascinating study of the uncanny in various different ways, heavily focuses on buildings & bodies, with lots of references to back up points and discussions. It will be helpful for the book I'm writing about the uncanny myself, however my approach is more about the fictional narrative we create to deal with feelings of the uncanny.
March 24, 2025
This book is just so brilliant. This is the best academic book ive read for years, and there are moments I just read, pause, and sit there in wonder.
November 26, 2015
This book feels a bit like tripping down the sidewalk, disoriented, a bit scary, totally weird.
He makes many references to Ponty which I appreciate and managed to keep the subject rife and interesting.
Would recommend to anybody already familiar with Phenomenology
He makes many references to Ponty which I appreciate and managed to keep the subject rife and interesting.
Would recommend to anybody already familiar with Phenomenology
December 22, 2015
Trigg trips through connections between place, self, and memory. His meandering shifts between complete clarity and total obscurity, perhaps simulating for his readers the experience of the uncanny.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews