Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces and Other Pieces: Why This Book Changes How You See Everything
Here’s the thing — you’ve probably never thought about your living room as a literary experiment. Or your street, your city, your entire planet. But Georges Perec did. And in doing so, he wrote a book that’s equal parts puzzle, philosophy, and poetry. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces isn’t just a collection of essays. It’s a map of how we live, think, and forget.
Most people walk into a room and see... Even so, a room. A story waiting to be told. So perec walked in and saw a system. Now, a set of rules. That’s what makes this book so compelling — and so necessary And it works..
What Is Species of Spaces and Other Pieces?
Let’s be clear: this isn’t a novel. It’s not even a traditional essay collection. Think about it: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces is a curated selection of Georges Perec’s most experimental writings, edited by his longtime collaborator Harry Mathews. The centerpiece is the titular essay, a sprawling meditation on space that moves from the intimate (a page, a bed) to the infinite (the cosmos). But it’s surrounded by other fragments — postcards, lists, architectural observations — that together form a kind of literary archaeology of everyday life Worth knowing..
Perec was a member of Oulipo, the Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, a group of writers who used constrained writing techniques to reach new forms of expression. But think of it as literary Sudoku — but instead of numbers, you get meaning. In Species of Spaces, he applies these constraints to space itself, breaking it down into categories and scales, each with its own logic and limitations.
Worth pausing on this one.
The book was published in 1974, just a few years before Perec’s death in 1982. It represents the peak of his ability to merge intellectual rigor with deep emotional resonance — a combination that’s rare in any era, but especially in ours, where so much writing feels either purely academic or purely personal.
The Architecture of Everyday Life
Species of Spaces begins with a simple premise: every space has a species. There’s the space of a page, a bedroom, a street, a city, a country, a continent, the Earth, the solar system, the galaxy, the universe. Each level has its own rules, its own way of being navigated, its own blind spots. Perec doesn’t just describe these spaces — he inhabits them, questions them, and reveals their hidden structures.
This isn’t abstract theory. Also, when Perec writes about the space of a page, he’s not just talking about margins and typography. Because of that, he’s talking about how we organize information, how we create boundaries, how we decide what matters. It’s deeply practical. And when he moves to the space of a street, he’s examining how urban design shapes behavior, how architecture becomes psychology.
Why It Matters: Seeing the World Through Perec’s Eyes
Why does this matter? Because most of us move through space without really seeing it. We take our environments for granted. We assume that rooms are neutral, that streets are just streets, that maps are objective. And perec shows us that nothing is neutral. Everything is constructed — and therefore, everything can be deconstructed Still holds up..
Take the space of a bedroom, for instance. These aren’t idle questions. But Perec asks: Who decided where the bed goes? On the surface, it’s just a place to sleep. What happens when you rearrange the furniture? Why is there usually only one door? They’re about power, habit, and the invisible rules that govern our lives.
And then there’s the emotional weight. So perec lost both parents before he was five — his mother to illness, his father to war. His writing is haunted by absence. Which means every room feels like it could be empty. He spent much of his life trying to reconstruct what was lost, not just in memory but in space. That’s what makes Species of Spaces so powerful — it’s not just about architecture. Plus, every street could lead nowhere. It’s about how we fill voids, how we create meaning from nothing But it adds up..
The Politics of Space
Perec’s work also has a political dimension. On top of that, he was interested in how space reflects and reinforces social hierarchies. Who gets to live in which neighborhoods? Who controls public areas? How do cities accommodate (or ignore) different kinds of people? These questions were especially urgent in post-war France, where urban renewal was reshaping communities overnight. But they’re just as relevant today, in an age of gentrification, surveillance, and digital landscapes Simple as that..
How It Works: Breaking Down Perec’s Method
So how does Perec actually do this? How does he turn a bedroom into a lens for understanding existence?
### From Micro to Macro: The Scale of Experience
The essay “Species of Spaces” is structured like a Russian doll — each section contains the next. Each transition is marked by a shift in tone and perspective, but also by a recurring phrase: “That is...It starts with the space of a page, then expands outward: a bed, a room, a building, a street, a neighborhood, a city, a country, a continent, the Earth, the solar system, the Milky Way, the universe. ” or “What happens is...
This repetition isn’t accidental. It’s a constraint, yes, but it’s also a reminder that each space is part of a larger system. There’s no escape from structure — only different levels of it Turns out it matters..
### The Rules of Inhabiting
Perec doesn’t just describe spaces — he tells us how to inhabit them. Here's one way to look at it: he writes about the space of a page as something that can be filled, crossed out, folded, torn. He treats it like a territory to be explored, not just a surface to write on. Because of that, similarly, he describes the space of a street as something that can be walked, crossed, avoided, or claimed. These aren’t neutral actions Easy to understand, harder to ignore..
are political acts. Think about it: to walk down a street is to claim a right to the city; to avoid a certain sidewalk is to acknowledge a boundary we didn't create. By treating every level of existence—from the ink on a page to the vastness of the cosmos—as a territory subject to movement and occupation, Perec forces us to realize that we are never just observers. We are always, fundamentally, occupants.
The Inventory of the Invisible
Central to Perec’s method is the concept of the infra-ordinary. He is less interested in the spectacular—the grand monuments or the dramatic vistas—and more interested in what is "below the ordinary." He wants to catalog the things we stop seeing because they are too familiar: the way light hits a corner, the specific geometry of a hallway, the mundane clutter of a desk Turns out it matters..
By applying a rigorous, almost scientific inventory to these trivialities, he achieves something paradoxical: he makes the invisible visible. On top of that, he suggests that our sense of reality is built upon a foundation of these tiny, overlooked spatial relationships. If we lose track of the small spaces, we lose our grip on the world itself.
Conclusion: The Map and the Void
When all is said and done, reading Perec is an exercise in radical attentiveness. He does not offer us a map to follow; instead, he teaches us how to read the landscape we already inhabit. He reminds us that every square meter of our existence is loaded with history, intention, and the echoes of those who were there before us Most people skip this — try not to..
Not the most exciting part, but easily the most useful That's the part that actually makes a difference..
Perec’s legacy lies in his refusal to let us settle for a superficial understanding of our surroundings. He pushes us to look past the walls and into the gaps between them. Which means in doing so, he transforms the act of living from a passive habit into a constant, conscious negotiation with the world. We are not just inhabitants of space; we are the architects of its meaning, forever trying to fill the voids left by time, memory, and the sheer, overwhelming scale of the universe Small thing, real impact..
