ABSTRACT
Utilizing the how-to advice columns in women’s magazines as the primary source of information, this chapter addresses the issues surrounding the spatial dimension and material qualities of cozy corners. It argues that the cozy corner craze assumes an important place in the history of domestic modernity, which simultaneously inscribes the cultural value of women’s home-making in both spatial and material terms. Through the medium of photographs and advertisements, a key aspect of the New Journalism, the chapter attempts to bring the pervasive equation between spatial awareness and emotional/sensorial aspects of inhabitation into sharp focus. It examines how the making of comfortable or picturesque cozy corners fosters a new sense of domesticity in the home. It also discusses how portable cozy corners evoke the idea of modern mobility in the making of a feminine domain as a showcase for personality and individuality, and a sense of privacy. The spatial configuration of a cozy corner involves a significant element of possession and territorial control, allowing a woman to fashion her own subjectivity in a designated space within the framework of mobile intimacy and portable privacy.
