Norms, Forms and Beds: Spatializing Sleep in Victorian Britain

This article examines the spatialization of sleep in Victorian Britain across a range of institutions, including homes an dormitories. It situates the emergence of modern sleeping space at the of two key narratives regarding the history of the body: Elias's 'civilising process' and Foucault's account of the realization of a 'disciplinary society'. Beginning in the early modern period, sleeping bodies were gradually accorded their own space set apart from others, and by the end of the 19th century the individual bed was regarded as an essential Ingredient of civilized society. However, the evolution of modern sleeping space was only in part informed by ideas of privacy and civility: it was also animated by ideas concerning the functioning of 'normal' bodies and minds, the governmental agency of space and the moral integrity of nuclear families. Furthermore, the bed remained a highly problematic, indeterminate space, facilitating deviant as much as civilized behaviour, and giving rise to all manner of pathologies, perversities and phobias. In this respect, the history of sleeping space also sheds light on the reciprocities of rule and resistance, pleasure and power, which at once constitute and imperil the integrity of the modern body.