Non-places of memory: interstitiality and the social function of space in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) and Ellen Wood’s Danesbury House (1860)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Challenging the well-established assumption that memory constitutes a determinant of place, this article argues that memory of traumatic events can also turn place into non-place. The characteristic of this transformation is the difference between past and present that reminiscent individuals trace, thus deeming the latter deficient. Hence, the present state of memory-invested sites is perceived as temporary and transient, a non-place that does not contribute to an individual’s understanding of themselves, thus creating the need to bridge the past to a future that enables the recovery of a past sense of place. Consequently, on account of its shortcomings, the present creates an interstitial space that triggers recollection, enables evaluation, and allows alternative modes of emplacement to be envisioned. The moors in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and the family home in Danesbury House constitute two cases in point, exemplifying how memory juxtaposes a harmonious past to a turbulent and tormenting present that needs to be overridden. Being interstitial spaces that, respectively, represent the distinct ends of the nature/culture dichotomy, the moors, and the family residence problematise and endorse mid-Victorian norms about place and identity. Ultimately, though, the novels’ outcome makes a case for the instrumentality of place in preserving the social order.