Synesthesia and the Arts

by Dani Cavallaro

Overview

This study explores the relationship between synesthesia—the experience of a sensation in one perceptual domain triggering a sensation in another perceptual domain—and the arts (including painting, photography, music and literature). Its aim is twofold: to introduce readers as yet unfamiliar with synesthesia to this intriguing phenomenon by focusing on its impact on the creation and reception of art; and to alert readers already conversant with synesthesia in its many manifestations to its potential to encourage fresh ways of approaching art, of understanding the part played by our bodies in its production and receipt and, by extension, of reassessing our position in nature as humans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476612935
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	09/13/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	212
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dani Cavallaro has written widely about literature, cultural theory, and anime. She lives in London.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface 1
Chapter 1—Perspectives on Synesthesia: Actual Synesthesia and Artistic Synesthesia 3
Types of Synesthesia 6
Research and Debates 18
Chapter 2—Creativity
Experiments in Multi-Sensory Perception 37
The Interplay of Music and the Visual Arts 52
Varieties of Synesthetic Art 71
Between pages 116 and 117 are eight color plates
containing 13 photographs
Chapter 3—Reception
Synesthesia in the Eye of the Beholder 117
Reception Theory, Gestalt Psychology
and Phenomenology 119
Sensory Reception and Memory 137
Synesthesia and Metaphor 143
Appendix: Cited Artists (Composers, Visual Artists, Writers) 179
Bibliography 181
Index 193