Home › Glossary › Letter S

Smooth space

Philosophy
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Smooth space is a space of constant variation and connectivity, without strict boundaries or hierarchies. It is opposed to striated space, which is ordered and controlled.

Detailed Definition
Deleuze and Guattari's concepts from A Thousand Plateaus. In poetry, smooth space can be seen in free verse, stream-of-consciousness, or poems that create a sense of fluidity and open-endedness. A poem can become a smooth space, where language moves freely, resisting fixed points. This creates a nomadic aesthetic, where the reader is invited to traverse the text, finding new connections in a continuous field.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem that flows from one idea to another without strict stanza breaks or rhyme, like a prose poem, creates a smooth space; The free verse of Walt Whitman, with its expanding, rhythmic catalogues, creates a smooth space; A poem that uses a stream of consciousness technique, like some of T.S. Eliot's work, creates a smooth space; A poem that rejects thematic unity for continuous variation, like the work of John Ashbery, is a smooth space.
Additional Notes
Smooth space is a concept from Deleuze and Guattari, opposed to "striated space." Striated space is ordered, measured, and hierarchical (like a grid or a state). Smooth space, in contrast, is a space of constant variation, movement, and connectivity, without strict boundaries or fixed points. It is a space of becoming, like the open sea or the desert. In poetry, smooth space can be seen in free verse, stream-of-consciousness, or poems that create a sense of fluidity and open-endedness. A poem can become a smooth space, where language moves freely, resisting fixed points and hierarchical structures. This creates a nomadic aesthetic, inviting the reader to wander through the text.
Also Known As
Nomadic space Open space Rhizomatic space Body without organs
Skip to main content