Synesthesia and the Arts

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.

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

Dani Cavallaro
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 212
Bibliographic Info: 13 photos (in color), appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7563-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1293-5
Imprint: McFarland

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