SOMOS LO QUE HABITAMOS: POÉTICAS DEL ESPACIO EN CASA DE AGUA Y DE SOMBRAS DE HANNI OSSOTT.

The poetry of Hanni Ossott (1946-2002) is hardly known beyond Venezuelan frontiers, and so is any domestic or foreign research, almost non-existent, about her published works, an exception being El reino donde la noche se abre (1987). Such a scenario, unfortunately, continues to be so regarding her other works, especially the ones published thereafter. For this reason, this article will focus on one of her later poetry books, Casa de agua y de sombras (1992), since, as will be argued, it might be the most relevant one to understand the spatial-subjective processes that characterize the Ossottian oeuvre. Drawing upon Bachelard’s theories of space, this paper will attempt to explain how the poet goes from the versification of abstract and hostile space to the poetry of lived space, which will offer answers to her identity dilemma: we are nothing more than what we inhabit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]