Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 6 Number 1, April 2005
___________________________________________________________________
"Opening A colorful Lexico:
The
Relation between Synesthesia
and the Production
of Metaphors
or
"Is
reading synesthetic?"
by
JSD
Research Institute, South Korea
This
article is a comparative study concerning similarities and differences of
artificial phenomena in literature with certain similarities to synethetic
phenomena in terms of their semiotic contents. The basic difference between
synesthetic phenomena and the phenomena in artificial texts here described is
that these phenomena are parts of artificial products. In that way they are
neither ‘ad-hoc’-impressions nor follow a strict cultural codex. We will see
different examples of these phenomena. This article provides also qualitative
information on the types of quasi-synesthetic phenomena we can find in the arts
and demonstrates the differences between them and synesthesia.[1]
It observes how the principles of artificial esthetics govern a great amount of
iconicity that occurs also within a synesthetic phenomenon. This article begins
with a historical introduction of synesthesia and its forms in literature
compared to other literary forms. The question discussed is whether synesthesia
is a phenomenon realized in an artificial language or if an artificial language
uses to imitate synesthetic effects.[2]
Therefore we will discuss the close similarities and differences of rhetorical
figures and expressions of synethetical effects and make a model demonstrating
the theoretical approach for the description of synesthetic phenomena in order
to discuss the relation between descriptions in art and pathological synesthesia.
Finally we discuss whether a basic human skill, reading, contains criteria that
qualify this skill as a synesthetic phenomenon.
I
Introduction: Esthetics and synesthesia and their historical sources
In
traditional theories of arts coming up in the 19th century esthetics
(Gr. aísthesis ‘perception’)
became frequently equated with the theory of the beautiful. Modern philosophers
define esthetics as the theory and philosophy of sensual perception in art,
design, philosophy and science. Therefore, not only the terms decide about the
‘beautiful’ and ‘ugly’, but the way of the sensuality in connection with
the plotting system of the object on the esthetic value of an object. In
the traditional view of art during the 19th century esthetics is an
equivalent to the theory of the beautiful. For Plato the beautiful is the
natural-beautiful, in which the idea of the beauty comes to the expression. Art
is only mimesis (imitation of the reality). At the beginning of the modern times
in the Renaissance and in German idealism one later regarded the work of art as
an ideal and the artist as a ´genius´.[3]
This background in science is important for the understanding of categories of
the beautiful following an idealistic conception.
An
esthetic idea according to Platonic traditions cannot become a recognized
phenomenon; it is an abstract concept that stands next to the real phenomena.
The genius may also be defined as the faculty of esthetic ideas. In other words:
Sensations do not enable us to adopt an esthetic realism. Taste is a critical
faculty that judges by the use of comparisons between ideas and impressions of
the senses. The
etymology of the term ´esthetics´ derives from the Greek aisthesis (´sensation´).
In the Western tradition the term has come to designate not the whole domain of
the sensible. The
noun ´esthetics´ places the term in the context of cultural processes. The
noun ´esthetics´ provides the only meaning that can be useful in all
societies: a definition which encompasses all of the factors which govern an
audience's perception and appreciation for an art object. Esthetics as a noun is
a usage that refers to the cultural canons of a people.
The
German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten
(1714
- 1762)
first used the term esthetics to convey physical ‘beauty‘.
Today we can distinguish between the idealistic theoretical approach and the
empiric approach to esthetic phenomena.
Synesthesia
was described for the first time at the end of the 19th century.[4]
At the end of the 19th century the term ‘audition colorée’ was
used to describe synesthesia between the sense of hearing and visuality.[5]
We have to look at the different forms used when synesthesia is realized. A
phenomenon ‘synesthesia’ exists which is physiologically an empiric
reception and connection of one sense with another. Synesthesia finds a way of
documentation by a medium. The most common medium by synestheticallly affected
persons is writing or oral speech. We will use samples as case studies taken
from personal descriptions of persons with synesthesia, poems describing
synesthesia and a sample for an artist producing synesthetic art and a poems
containing synesthetic descriptions.[6]
The
modern neologistic term ‘synesthesia’ originates from the Greek ‘syn’
(together) and ‘aisthesis’ (perception). Synesthesia is an ability of a
reception when senses are joined. Numbers, letters, and words are realized e.g.
in colors. Synesthesia is the phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sense
modality gives rise to a sensation in another sense modality. The most prevalent
form of synesthesia is ‘hearing’ music or vowels in color. This is a rather
peculiar condition in which the senses get cross-wired. Stimulation of one
sense, it seems, causes an inappropriate stimulation of another. According
to common models perceptions are represented not in individual nerve cells, but
as specific samples on the cerebral cortex. Synesthetic experiencing comes off
by a special cross-linking of different brain ranges.
Sight
Hearing
Smell
Taste
Touch
The five traditional senses according
to Aristotle
It
was since Aristotle observed that the number of the human senses is five. The
ancient philosopher Aristotle distinguished these five senses as sight, hearing,
smell, taste, and touch. Perception is not possible without an entity that acts
on the sense organs. Perception is not ‘objective’ in the sense commonly
used which is outside of the observer. Perception needs an observer. Therefore
the perception itself is relative to the observer. The sense organs are
fundamentally automatic in working, while an evaluation process needs criteria.
Perception
Evaluation
Emotion
Thought
Reminiscence
Imagination
Concepts
of consciousness
The
normal ability to think or reason is called in Latin ‘sentire’. Latin ´sensus´
is a derivation of ‘sentire’, to perceive, to feel, from the same root as
Old German ´sinnen´ with the meaning ´to meditate, to think´. The sensation
is an impression, or the consciousness of an impression made upon the central
nervous organ, through the medium of a sensory or nerve or one of the organs of
sense a feeling, or state of consciousness produced either by an external object
(stimulus) or by some change in the internal state of the body.
Perception is only a special kind of knowledge; a sensation is a special kind of
feeling. The pairs ‘knowledge and feeling’ and ‘perception and
sensation’ are always in an inverse ratio of each other.
A
sensation is formed based on the sensory input. Each receptor is more sensitive
to a specific kind of environmental change, but is less sensitive to others.
Five general types of receptors are recognized. Sensations are feelings that
occur when the brain interprets sensory impulses. Somatic senses need receptive
places associated with the body, such as muscles, nerves, and viscera. E.g. for
taste the taste buds are the organs of taste and are located within papillae of
the tongue. Within taste receptors the taste cells are modified epithelial cells
that function as receptors. Taste cells contain the taste hairs that are the
portions sensitive to taste.
Sensations
result in an evaluation process of esthetic values. Philosophical concepts
interpret among other things the so-called ‘esthetics of the ugly’ as a
higher form of beauty. Traditional esthetics assumes that universal and timeless
criteria for the evaluation of works of art exist, but e.g. the metaphysic
esthetics of the German idealism was criticized as ordered esthetics ‘from
above’. From this critical basic attitude two currents developed: the
psychological esthetics and the sciences of arts. All cognitive achievements
possess an esthetic potential. In addition the empiric esthetics assumes there
are different levels of esthetic experiencing, so that in this way also the
esthetics of the ugly one can be explained.[7]
II
Case studies of synesthesia
In
the following case studies we will see how synesthesia is expressed and
described literally.
1.
Description of types of synesthesia
A
letter of a synesthetic person was publicized online with a description of
synesthesia. This letter contains the description of days realized in colors.
The author describes a day as a ´beautiful orange´ and used a quasi-metaphoric
construction:
Today
is a beautiful orange Ever since I was a kid, numbers and days of the week have
had colors. One is dark blue, two is silver gray, three is orange, four is
chestnut brown, five is yellow, six is white, seven is green, eight is dark
brown, nine is light tan. Double numbers don't register. Monday is dark blue,
Tuesday is silver gray, Wednesday is orange, Thursday is dark brown, Friday is
green, Saturday is red, and Sunday is yellow. Today is a beautiful orange day on
the river even though it's only Tuesday. Does anyone out there see music as
color? My choir is singing Carmina Burana next weekend. I'd love to know what
color that is! [8]
These
are individual connotations of phenomena. We classify them as
‘pseudo-metaphoric’ since they are results of an individual idiolectic
status. A
Day in the Life
contains a description of synesthesia; synesthesia here is an expression of
memories which arose from the sense of smelling certain things and connotations
made to certain situations:
My
memories never really make sense to me. I don't always remember the important
stuff, but I have very vivid memories of the things that seemed important to me
at the time. Maybe the things I remember reflect my two- and three-year-old
consciousness. And maybe it's the vividness and the colors of my memories that
attaches them so concretely to my senses. Whatever the method, they're often
indelibly bound. When I taste grass, I immediately remember lying next to my dad
in the grass, sharing a special moment. He and I were very close at that time in
my life, so I have a fondness for grass as a concept. And when I think of
certain people -- my great-grandmother, for instance, I can remember the smell
of her -- the distinct odor of her house. She had a bright pink, flowery blanket
that she'd fold in two on the floor as a pallet for me to lie on, and the
polyester surface of it was cool and smooth on my skin, and the smell would fill
my nose. My mom still has the blanket, although it doesn't smell like my G'ma so
much anymore. I can still create the scent in my head, though -- as vivid as if
I were at my house when it was still her house. It's very easy for me to
associate sounds and words and music with vivid visual memories, too.[9]
In
this example we find connotations of personal memory with visual experience.
It is one
form, in which synesthesia is expressed pseudo-metaphorically.[10]
The personal description given in the following samples contains a poetic form
of allegories
to express the meaning of synesthesia. Giovanni Malito describes with
metaphors such as ‘the scent of the moon’ in
Synesthetics the phenomenon synesthesia per
se:
Giovanni
Malito
Synesthetics
(i)
to locate
the scent
of the moon
is the reason
you look up
at night
(ii)
you taste
sunshine
your tongue
tingles
with nothing
it must say
(iii)
hypersensitive
touching air
hand opened
is then closed
squeezing atoms
and molecules
you touch origins
of everything [11]
1.
Description of one sense by another one: Painting and music
We
now look at the case, when synesthetic phenomena are put into artificial media.
The way how one sense describes another one exemplifies the work of the modern
artist Wladimir Kandinski. Color has an emotional, physiological and symbolic
effect.[12]
By the mid-19th century synesthesia had intrigued an art movement
that sought sensory fusion. The union of the senses appears in many forms of
art; Germans use therefore the term ´Gesamtkunstwerk´. The
physician Gustav Theodor Fechner differentiated in the 19th century
between ‘higher esthetics’ and ‘lower esthetics’. The ‘higher
esthetics’ is the ‘beautiful-mental‘ esthetics of the traditional
philosophy and literature science which regards esthetics almost exclusively in
connection with art. Also the information esthetics played a role in the second
half of the 20th century. Therefore all cognitive achievements
possess an esthetic potential. Empiric esthetics assumes there are different
levels of esthetic experiencing. In this way also the esthetics of the ugly one
can be explained. Walter Benjamins calls esthetics the ‘concept of
hedonism’.
In
his early years the painter Kandinsky discovered his synesthesia while attending
a performance of Wagner's opera Lohengrin in
Moscow. Kandinsky started exploring synesthetic experiences as a member of the
group Der Blaue Reiter. To evoke
emotions and sensations in the beholders and listeners of their art, the group
explored the emotional and perceptual dynamics of simultaneous presentations of
different arts. Kandinsky's main experiments with cross-modal sensations
concerned the multi-sensory perception of movement. Kandinsky assumed that one
could feel the multi-sensory consonances and dissonances in simultaneously
performed color movements, musical movements and dance movements. Kandinsky's
explorations of the consonance and dissonance of simultaneous auditory and
visual stimuli offers alternatives for ´Gestalt´-experiments. Kandinsky viewed
the Compositions as major statements
of his artistic ideas. They share several characteristics that express this
monumentality: the impressively large format, the deliberate planning of the
composition, and the transcendence of representation by increasingly abstract
imagery.[13] The first three Compositions
were destroyed during World War II. Composition
IV (1911, 639 x 404) is divided abruptly in the center by two thick, black
vertical lines. On the left a violent motion is expressed through the profusion
of sharp, jagged and entangled lines. On the right all is quite with sweeping
forms and color harmonies.
W.
Kandinsky. Composition IV. 1911
Composition
VI
(1913, 640 x 421) was made two years later. The theme of this work is The
Deluge. Kandinsky defined three centers to this Composition
which are discerned sequentially by the viewer. Initially, the eye is drawn to
the pink and white vortex in the left center.
W.
Kandinsky. Composition VI. 1913
In
these pictures Kandinski found a way to express abstract qualities not following
the traditional mimetic concept of art. To express synesthetic effects within a
theory of art, Kandinsky used allegorical concepts consisting of the metaphoric
concepts of ´spirituality´, ´geometry´ and ´emotionality´. Kandinsky wrote
that artists had an ‘inner necessity’ to express the ‘inner essence of
things’. The main focus of his exploration of color was how it could be
employed as an expression of ‘the Spiritual’. Kandinsky wrote that colors
evoke emotions. Along with other formal elements like lines, shapes, and forms,
color is a language that communicates to all. Kandinsky’s esthetic is rooted
in symbolistic principles he describes in the following chapters of Concerning
the Spiritual in Art:
Part
I. About general aesthetic
I.
Introduction
II.
The movement of the triangle
III.
Spiritual
revolution
IV.
The
pyramid
Part
II. About painting
V.
The psychological working of color
VI.
The language of form and color
VII.
Theory
VIII.
Art and artists
IX.
Conclusion
In
the section About general aesthetic in
the introduction describes the origin
of art in metaphors of human beings:
Every
work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our
emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own
which can never be repeated. Shapeless emotions such as fear, joy, grief, etc.
which belonged to this time of effort, will no longer greatly attract the
artist. He will endeavour to awake subtler emotions, as yet unnamed.[14]
In
the section The movement of the triangle
Kandinsky speaks about a ‘life of the spirits’:
The
life of the spirit may be fairly represented in diagram as a large acute-angled
triangle divided horizontally into unequal parts with the narrowest segment
uppermost. The lower the segment the greater it is in breadth, depth, and area.[15]
Color
effects were considered hierarchical depending on the ‘level of spiritual
development’ of an individual. Kandinsky's theory of synesthesia pointed out
that in synesthetic sensory impressions were immediately communicated to the
soul. In the chapter Spiritual revolution
Kandinsky writes:
The
spiritual triangle moves slowly onwards and upwards. Today one of the largest of
the lower segments has reached the point of using the first battle cry of the
materialist creed. Spiritual darkness, the insecurity of ignorance and fear
pervade the world in which they move. Maeterlinck is perhaps one of the first
prophets, one of the first artistic reformers and seers to herald the end of the
decadence just described.[16]
In
the chapter The Pyramid the difference
between the arts music and painting is described:
In
manipulation of form music can achieve results which are beyond the reach of
painting. On the other hand, painting is ahead of music in several particulars.
Music, for example, has at its disposal duration of time; while painting can
present to the spectator the whole content of its message at one moment. Music
which is outwardly unfettered by nature, needs no definite form for its
expression.[17]
In
the section About painting of the
chapter The psychological working of color
the connotation of ´color´ and ´things´ possessing this special color is
described:
Whether
the psychic effect of color is a direct one, as these last few lines imply, or
whether it is the outcome of association, is perhaps open to question. The soul
being one with the body, the former may well experience a psychic shock, caused
by association acting on the latter. For example, red may cause a sensation
analogous to that caused by flame, because red is the color of flame. A warm red
will prove exciting, another shade of red will cause pain or disgust through
association with running blood. In these cases color awakens a corresponding
physical sensation which undoubtedly works upon the soul.
No
more sufficient, in the psychic sphere, is the theory of association. Generally
speaking, color is a power which directly influences the soul. Color is the
keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The
artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations
in the soul.
IT
IS EVIDENT THEREFORE THAT COLOR HARMONY MUST REST ONLY ON A CORRESPONDING
VIBRATION IN THE HUMAN SOUL; AND THIS IS ONE OF THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF THE
INNER NEED.[18]
In
the following section The language of form
and color the ‘weapons’ of paintings are described:
Painting
has two weapons at her disposal:
1.
Color.
2.
Form.
Form
can stand alone as representing an object (either real or otherwise) or as a
purely abstract limit to a space or a surface. This essential connection between
color and form brings us to the question of the influences of form on color.
Form alone, even though totally abstract and geometrical, has a power of inner
suggestion. A triangle (without the accessory consideration of its being
acute-or obtuse-angled or equilateral) has a spiritual value of its own. In
connection with other forms, this value may be somewhat modified, but remains in
quality the same.
The
more abstract is form, the more clear and direct is its appeal. In any
composition the material side may be more or less omitted in proportion as the
forms used are more or less material, and for them substituted pure
abstractions, or largely dematerialized objects.
Two
great divisions of color occur to the mind at the outset: into warm and cold,
and into light and dark. To each color there are therefore four shades of
appeal--warm and light or warm and dark, or cold and light or cold and dark.
Generally
speaking, warmth or cold in a color means an approach respectively to yellow or
to blue. This distinction is, so to speak, on one basis, the color having a
constant fundamental appeal, but assuming either a more material or more
non-material quality. The movement is an horizontal one, the warm colors
approaching the spectator, the cold ones retreating from him.
The
colors which cause in another color this horizontal movement, while they are
themselves affected by it, have another movement of their own which acts with a
violent separative force. This is, therefore, the first antithesis in the inner
appeal, and the inclination of the color to yellow or to blue, is of tremendous
importance.
The
second antithesis is between white and black; i.e., the inclination to light or
dark caused by the pair of colors just mentioned. These colors have once more
their peculiar movement to and from the spectator, but in a more rigid form.
Cool
red (madder) like any other fundamentally cold color, can be deepened -
especially by an intermixture of azure.[19]
Kandinsky
used for his theory human
beings in a
model conception; for Kandinsky
color
is related to the human soul.
Examples
of this construction are the expressions ‘keyboard´ for color, ´hammer´ for
eye, ´piano´ for the soul in part II of Concerning
the Spiritual in Art.
We
will now look
at examples for the question
‘What
makes colors ´speak´?
Kandinsky used colors as indicators of other qualities like yellow for warm and
blue for cold. All
traditional color concepts show some similar basic distinctions between colors
and introduce to some basic features of each color. If we look at the color
theories, most common is the color wheel or color circle based on red, yellow
and blue as basic colors. These are the three pigment colors that cannot be
formed by any combination of other colors. All other colors are derivatives
from
these three hues. Green, orange and purple are the colors formed by mixing the
primary colors.
The tertiary colors exist from mixing a primary and a secondary color. They
are yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green and
yellow-green. The
meanings of colors have certain stability. Isaac Newton developed the first
circular diagram of colors in 1666. Since then scientists and artists have
studied and designed numerous variations of this concept. Basically
it is taken
from the prismatic arrangement visible in the arrangement
of colors in a rainbow.
The primary colors Itten called red, yellow and blue.
The
use of colors in such a metaphoric way like in Kandinsky’s art can base upon a
‘tertium comparationis’-description: So the color stands for an attribute it
has in common with an object posessing this color. So the message of this color
can be understood. In this way synesthesia follows some artificial rules and is
artificial itself. In other cases the synesthetic effects are based upon a
personal connotation system; the connotation of days of the week and colors is a
personal configuration not depending on general cultural or social concepts, but
on personal memory and connotation by an individual entity. Artificial effects
of synesthesia are based upon more comprehensive ´cultural memory´. The Latin
word ´forma´ derivates in many languages in Europe and stands for visible and
conceptional forms. Color is always related to a form. Form is the equivalent to
the disposition, arrangement or order of parts which can have ´color´ as an
attribute. The connotations of colors with certain values brought some ´common
effects´ which make it easy for us to make a distinction between general
esthetic common connotations and personal synesthetic effects. The basic colors
yellow, red and blue have as attributes certain meanings which mostly relay to
´natural´ phenomena of this color.
Yellow
Yellow
stimulates the nervous system as well as the mind. Yellow makes objects seem
closer and larger. Its opposite color is violet. Yellow is associated with joy,
happiness, intellect, and energy. Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses
cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy.
Red
Red
stimulates the mind and nervous system. Bright red can be an irritant if used
over large areas. Red is the color of fire and blood and associated with energy,
war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and
love. Red is a very emotionally intense color. Red is widely used to indicate
danger. Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love.
Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and
passiveness. Dark red is associated with vigour, willpower, rage, anger,
leadership, courage, malice, and wrath.
Blue
Blue
has a calming effect. Blue does not require the eye to focus to be perceived. It
is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty,
wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered
beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a
calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquillity and calmness. Dark
blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability. Dark blue represents
knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.
Orange
Orange
stimulates the mind and stimulates the appetite. Orange requires the eye to
focus, therefore objects seem closer and larger. Orange conveys warmth and
assurance. Its opposite color is blue. Orange combines the energy of red and the
happiness of yellow. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness,
creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect,
and stimulates mental activity. Orange is the color of fall and harvest.
Green
Green
creates a feeling of freshness. Its opposite color is red. Green is the color of
nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has
strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly
associated with money. It is the most restful color for the human eye. Green
suggests stability and endurance.
Violet
Violet
does not require the eye to focus; therefore objects and walls seem farther
away.
Purple
Purple
combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with
royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth
and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence,
creativity, mystery, and magic.
Brown
Brown
in more earthy tones creates intimacy and evokes a sense of tranquillity, but
can make a room seem too subdued if used widely without texture or another color
to enliven it. Beiges and tans are more sophisticated tones. Brown suggests
stability and denotes masculine qualities. Reddish-brown is associated with
harvest and fall.
Gold
Gold
evokes the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and
wealth. Gold often symbolizes high quality.
White
White
is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is
considered to be the color of perfection. White means safety, purity, and
cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation.
White can represent a successful beginning.
Black
Black
is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. Black
is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown. It usually has a
negative connotation. Black denotes strength and authority. It is considered to
be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color.[20]
White
Birth, purity, cleanness
Black
Mourning, death, earth, seriousness, grief
Red
Fight, love, passion
Orange
Warmth, wealth, enthusiasm, creativity, happiness
Yellow
Warmth, happiness, cowardice, betrayal, hatred, joy, intellect, energy
Green
Spring, youth, freshness
Blue
Sincerity, loyalty, melancholy
Violet
Seriousness, dignity
Purple
Power, high-ranked priest, dignity
Pink
Happiness, tenderness, love
Gold
Super-terrestrial, richness, royal power
Silver
Strong confidence
Color
psychology in Europe
2.
Interference of language and picture
Now
we
will
discuss synesthetic effects of literature using examples from the Middle Ages.
This way, the article also
explores
some cognitive and esthetic principles about picture poems. Rhabanus Maurus, a
German abbot
in
a
monastery
in Fulda
in the 9th century,
devised ‘visual poetry’ around 810 on the subject of the redeeming Holy
Cross. His
visual poems also featuring
illustrations, have been composed from woodcut. The text continues
in the illustration.
The
letters printed in red can
also be read separately establishing
a second, different sense
next to the literal meaning.
The figures, corresponding with preserved manuscripts, largely consist of
carefully inserted xylographic parts within a typographical whole, with the
distinction between the two very hard to perceive.
Such a poetic
language draws attention to itself
in the
hierarchy of signifiers
developed from one common text.
In manneristic styles there is a greater awareness of the production
of
signifiers.
In
the
following
example
the four evangelists are integrated in the text and subscriptions are separated in
lines
composing
a level of secondary
meaning, e.g. the words ´fuit in diebus hero´.
From
this text box emerge individual letters and groups of letters which compose
self-contained poems or sequences of words referring to the basic
theme
of the composition, the glorification of the Cross and Christianity using
effects of intertextuality. The monumental manuscript contains a series of 28
picture poems taken from the first version of the treatise on the Holy Cross
presented by Hrabanus in
the years 810–814.
The book ends with a
dedication miniature depicting the author below the Cross as symbol of
salvation. The book
is
an introductory
work
of
medieval semiotic thinking and
guides the reader through the world of Charlemagne who
promoted
these artificial methods for propaganda
and the enhancement of his
power as an emperor.[21]
3.
Color and literary
languages
Metaphors
concerned with matters of sound deal with a common level of synesthesia. William
Shakespeare’s works are examples for the use of metaphors in a literary text
which can be considered as synesthetic effects. In act IV, scene II of The
Winter’s Tale red blood that reigns
in the winter’s pale is described:
With heigh! the
doxy, over the dale, Why, then comes in the sweet o the year; For the red blood
reigns in the winter’s pale. The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,...
In
the Sonnet 99 red is the color of shame:
Fearfully on
thorns did stand, One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red
nor white, had stol n of both,
And to his robbery had annex d thy breath;
In
act II, scene V of Twelfth-Night; or, What
You Will the expression ‘to fool someone black and blue’ is used:
To
anger him we ll have the bear again; and we will fool him black and blue;
shall
we not, Sir Andrew? Sir And.
III Theory
–
Structures
and concepts of the representation of esthetic phenomena
Elements
of a notation system are tools used to build a composition with a secondary
connotation system.
This was demonstrated. How do they work together? A
concept as a whole is made of series of segments that have their active role in
the whole and interact among themselves.
Color
is the most vital visual sensation. Colors draw our attention immediately. Color
also influences the composition and this is also the case in a
design
.
Words
the ancient Greeks used to define concepts of beauty are structural elements for
proportions of parts. For visible beauty symmetria (harmony for
commensurability) was the principal term. For audible beauty and for musical
works it was harmonia (consonance). The word taxis
for ´order´ had a similar meaning. Obviously the color connotations described
in the sample cases above contain certain basic and in common shared meanings.
So an emotional approach can be explained when colors are used. The
forms of feelings can be divided into three classes of the simple emotions, the
affections, and the strong desires. The connotation for elements of categories
of one sense with another sense can be explained by the use of a ‘tertium
comparationis’,
a third quality both elements have in common; e.g. softness of touch and yellow
as a color both stand in opposition to gravity as
common quality of touch
color.
Perception
and sensation
of esthetic phenomena
Perception
is not possible without an entity that acts on the sense organs and the organs
themselves. This means that perception is not ‘objective’ in the sense
commonly used indicating a position outside the observer. Perception needs an
observer. The sensual organs are fundamentally automatic in working depending on
our knowledge of perception.
Cognition
Perception
Emotion
Thought
Reminiscence
Imagination
Categories
of consciousness
Ethic
and esthetic values are in close connection. The distinction often made between
emotions and judgments gives rise to conflicting accounts of morality, when e.g.
emotions contain judgments. Judgments can be formed both by emotions and the
rational thinking. Emotions are responses to sense and incorporate judgments and
beliefs about those senses.
Channels
of esthetic perception
A
channel is a sensory mode utilized by a medium for visual, auditory or tactile
perception. Channels
are transmitters
serving
like a technical
feature of a
medium
in
which an esthetic phenomenon appears.
The
‘sensorium’
is the part of the brain that receives and coordinates all stimuli through the
senses. ‘Sensuality’
is the excessive devotion to the
delights
of the senses. Sentiment is an opinion about a specific matter, or an emotion
elicited by an image. A
speaker is more likely to be taking a disparaging attitude when using ‘sentimental‘
or ‘sentimentality‘.
The stimulus
The
receptor
The
sensation
Steps in sensation in an psycho-physiological approach
The
faculties through which the body perceives, receives and feels stimuli from
outside are the faculties of sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, and balance.
These
senses are the means of providing physical gratification and pleasure. This
quality of being sensual
is
capable of perceiving with a sense or senses and
is also
responsive to external conditions or stimulation.
Esthetics
is created by these
five senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell stimuli) combined with
connotation derived from ´classic connotations´ like the symbolic meanings of
colors we demonstrated. Also synesthetic phenomena base as philological effects
upon this method. This is an argument for synesthesia as a personal ability
or skill.
This
faculty for the appreciation of beauty is related to high tastes acquired though
culture and depends upon complex associations. The sphere of the senses has here
a transmissive
function; it is a kind of messenger of information between the sense, things and
the soul which are separated from each other.
These
cchannels
of esthetic perception
of the main five senses have certain categories which can be combined as
synesthetic effects, e.g. as colors of vision in combination with taste
categories.
Vision
Color
Shape
Pattern
Line
Texture
Visual weight
Balance
Scale
Movement
|
Hearing
Loudness
Pitch
Beat
Repetition
Melody
Pattern
Noise Texture
Shape |
Touch Weight Give Comfort Temperature Vibration Sharpness Ease
of use Strength |
Taste
/
Smell Sweetness Sourness Texture Strength Sweetness 'Pleasantness' |
Channels of esthetic perception
Esthetic
state
Synesthetic
state
Anesthetic
state
Esthetic
states
Sensation
of the ´Esthetic state´
We
can divide sensations into three
states: The state of esthetic perception, the anesthestic status and the
synesthetic perception. A
sensation is an experience by the senses. Thoughts and emotions can also be
called sensations. The term can also have a negative connotation. Sensibility
depends on nerves. A sensation is a perception associated with stimulation of a
sense organ or with a specific body condition like the sensation of heat or a
visual sensation. The faculty of
feeling
or perceiving
is based on physical sensibility. Affections
are related merely to feelings, while passions belong to the faculty of strong
desire. Affections are irresponsible, while passions are abiding and deliberate.
A
sensation is a state of excited interest or feeling. The sensation caused by the
appearance of that work is still remembered. Sensation properly expresses such
as change in the state of the mind which is produced by an impression upon an
organ of sense. Perception expresses the knowledge or the intimations we obtain
by means of our sensations concerning the qualities of matter. It involves the
notion of external elements. Sensation as the faculty through which the external
world is apprehended is the entry to the senses. Sense is any of the faculties
by which stimuli from outside or inside the body are received and felt by the
senses of hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste, and equilibrium. A perception or
feeling is produced by a stimulus. Sensation is a sense e.g. of fatigue.
The
´anesthetic state´
The
word ´anesthesia´ derives from the Greek word aisthesia
(reception of feeling). Anesthesia means a status without feeling. The term was
coined in the 19th century when modern anesthesia
became common.
Since this
time the
rapid growth of anesthesia has embraced many facets. Comparing it to anesthetic
which is by construction an antonym of esthetic, synesthetic states can
illuminate some of the meaning of esthetic phenomena. If something is
anesthetic, it tends to dull the senses or cause sleepiness. In contrast
esthetic may be thought of as anything that tends to invigorate.
Sensibilities
of esthetics
Pleasure
comes from the extent to which the product makes the task more pleasurable. Pleasure
and esthetic quality belong together. An example is communicating
our pleasure and happiness to anyone who has given us a new sensation through
any work or act or art. When
the basis of one’s esthetics is one’s natural affection
together with one’s artistic affirmations, a person may create her/himself
through favouring tastes she/he desires having
an effect of
a
synesthetic phenomena, if these are wanted. Artistic
creation and culture itself are modes of pure communication, in which the
synesthetic effects can get an over-personalized meaning. The strength of
feeling is usually proportioned to the strength of intellect. When the cognition
of the intellect is deep, the feeling arising will also be strong and vivid.
Simple
emotions
Affections
Desires
Classification
of sensibilities
Anesthesia
is the prevention of consciousness or sensation, usually by means of chemicals
known as anesthetics.
The
´synesthetic state´
A
synesthetic
status encompasses both a
sensory experience and an esthetic potential. Characteristic of a synesthetic
performance style are
the variety
of artistic principles, forms and techniques, manipulated in such a way as to
fuse the senses of the receptor. In opposition to the individual synesthetic
effects we have here a artificial product, which
has a sender and a receiver. Informations are communicable and not reduced to
sensual expressions. A
synesthetic style in performance has the ability to communicate. It provides a
‘synesthetic sense’ within appreciation
and the intuitive sense that
presents the unpresentable beyond conventional techniques to present ideas that
are beyond conventional communication. The
five senses are result of cultural coding which each child
goes
through when exploring the reality. Each genuine synesthetic person has a
constant encyclopaedia of connotated phenomena differing
from the encyclopaedia of every other person.
So synesthesia is an individualized phenomenon intending to save an idiolect,
when expressed literally. Since this is a conditionized, trained and socially
accepted skill, we could also
call
it ´artificial synesthesia´. It demonstrates the intellectually conditionized
state of human capable to read and with
such
a capability
able to connote visual phenomena with other senses.
We
finally now come to our main thesis: ´Why reading is synesthetic´. The
physiological condition of synesthesia is a procedure in terms of sensory
impressions of cognition and reaction, of memory and emotion. Although it would
certainly be misleading to translate the Greek ´koine aisthesis´ and ´sensus
communis´ simply as ´consciousness´, it is accepted practice to translate
Aristotle's word ´phantasia´ as ´imagination´. Synesthetic descriptions can
be classified –when used in literature – as phantasy. Reading
is a highly synesthetic process. There are several stages in the reading
process. When we read a word, a visual pattern is perceived which is then
decoded with reference to an internal representation of the language. This is
analysed syntactically and semantically in the context of a phrase or sentence.
In other words: Semioic signs are read and get a meaning to be transferred into
sounds or other media. Since this is this automatic synesthetic media use of
mankind, we do not care about this process. The
word imagination is a direct derivative of ´imaginatio´, the Latin equivalent
term for ´phantasia´.
What
is this?
Empiric area
Human mind
Esthetic
phenomen
How
is this?
Sensual area Human senses
Esthetic
receiver
The
esthetic receiver uses senses
How
is this?
Intellectual area
Human intellect
Esthetic
jugdement
The
esthetic judgement is based on the ratio
How
is this?
Esthetical
area Human emotions
Ethic
judgement is based on the mind
Universal
categories of esthetics can only be applicable to the esthetic side of human
activity. They are different from other categories. The fundamental categories
of plausibility, beauty and artistic truth also belong to objective esthetics.
Synesthetic phenomena representing a physiological condition are as an output
realized in quasi-artificial forms. But we must consider the difference between
voluntarily made artificial products and the ‘ad-hoc’ built descriptions
that refer to a certain synesthetic phenomenon. Subjective esthetics discusses
the issues related to the origin and manifestations of esthetic creativity.
Intellect is a cognitive faculty essentially different from sense and of a
supra-organic order. ‘Artificial’ synesthesia must not relay on a state of
consciousness; it also can relay on theoretical methods or concepts. This
proposition is proved by psychological analysis and study of the chief functions
of intellect. These are conception, judgment, reasoning, reflection, and
self-consciousness. All these activities involve elements essentially different
from sensuous consciousness. In opposition to esthetic phenomena synesthetic
phenomena are not communicable; they tend to be part of an idiolect. Phenomena
such as reading we called ´artificial synesthesia´ are conditionalized forms.
[1]
Cf. for the cross-cultural effects of synesthesia:
Osgood,
Charles E. "The Cross-cultural Generality of Visual-Verbal Synesthetic
Tendencies." Behavioral Science. Vol. 5. 1959. Pp. 146-169.
Osgood,
Charles E., William H. May, and Murray S. Miron. Cross-cultural Universals
of Affective Meaning. Urbana and London: U of Illinois P. 1975.
[2]
Smith,
Henry Lee. "Synesthesia." Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin. Vol.
16, number 172. July. 1905. Pp. 258-263.
[3]
Cf. as physiological studies in synesthesia:
Maurer,
Daphne. "Neonatal synaesthesia: implications for the processing of
speech and faces." S. Baron-Cohen and J. Harrison (eds.). Synaesthesia:
Classic and Contemporary Readings; Oxford, England: Blackwell. 1997. Pp.
224-242.
Frith,
C. D., and E. Paulesu. "The physiological basis of synaesthesia."
In: S. Baron-Cohen and J. Harrison (Eds.); Synaesthesia: Classic and
Contemporary Readings; Oxford 1997. Pp. 123-147.
Grossenbacher,
Peter G., and Christopher T. Lovelace. "Mechanisms of synesthesia:
cognitive and physiological constraints." Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Vol. 5:1. 2001. Pp. 36-41.
Gruber,
Edouard. "Questionnaire
Psychologique sur l'Audition Colorée, Figurée et Illuminée." Revue
Philosophique. Vol. 35. 1893.
Pp. 499-502.
Howes,
David (ed.). The Varieties of Sensory Experience: A Sourcebook in the
Anthropology of the Senses. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: U of Toronto P.
1991.
Hubbard,
Timothy L. "Synesthesia-like mappings of lightness, pitch, and melodic
interval." American Journal of Psychology. Vol. 109. 1996. Pp. 219-238.
Ione,
Amy, and Christopher Tyler. "Synesthesia: Is F-sharp colored
violet?" Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. Vol. 13.1. 2004.
Pp.
58-65.
[4]
Cf. for the cross-cultural effects of synesthesia:
Osgood,
Charles E. "The Cross-cultural Generality of Visual-Verbal Synesthetic
Tendencies." Behavioral Science. Vol. 5. 1959. Pp. 146-169.
Osgood,
Charles E., William H. May, and Murray S. Miron. Cross-cultural Universals
of Affective Meaning. Urbana and London: U of Illinois P. 1975.
[5]
Some of the first articles published are:
Beaunis,
H. and A. Binet. "Sur
deux cas d'audition colorée." Revue Philosophique. Vol. 33. 1892. Pp.
448-461.
Binet,
A., and J. Philippe. "Étude sur un nouveau cas d' audition colorée."
Revue Philosophique. Vol. 33. 1892.
Pp. 461-464.
Bishop,
Bainbridge. A Souvenir of the Color Organ, with some Suggestions in Regard
to the Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light. New Russia, New York
1893.
Http://www.rhythmiclight.com/archives/index.html
Bos,
Maria C. "Über echte und unechte audition coloreé." Zeitschrift
für Psychologie. Vol.
111. 1929.
Pp.
321- 401.
[6]
Early works are: Day, Sean A. "Types of Synesthesia".
Http://www.users.muohio.edu/daysa/synesthesia.html.
Synaesthesia:
Classic and Contemporary Readings.
Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Reprinted from Psychological Bulletin. Vol.
82 (3). 303-331. Pp. 49-98.
[7]
Ramachandran, Vilayanur S. and Hubbard, Edward M. "Synaesthesia. A
window into perception, thought and language." Journal of Consciousness
Studies. Vol.
8 (12). 2001b. Pp. 3-34.
Day,
Sean A. "Synaesthesia and Synaesthetic Metaphors." Psyche. Volume
2. Number 32; July 1996.
Http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au:80/v2/psyche-2-32-day.html.
Downey,
June E. "Literary Synaesthesia." Journal of Philosophy,
Psychology, etc. Vol. 9. 1912. Pp. 490-498.
Marks,
Lawrence E. "Synaesthesia: Perception and Metaphor." In Burwick.
A. and Pape, F. (eds.); Aesthetic Illusion. Berlin 1990. Pp. 28-40.
Osgood,
Charles E. "The cognitive dynamics of synesthesia and metaphor."
In Honeck and Hoffman, (eds.);
Cognition and Figurative Language; Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Publishers. 1980.
Pp.
203-238.
[8]
Cf.: Schamehorn,
Liz. "Synesthesia."
Http://www.painterskeys.com/clickbacks/
synesthesia.htm.
[9]
Cf.: Http://www.waterlilies.org/weblog/archives/2002/07/synesthesia.html.
[10]
Vanechkina,
Irina Leonidovna. “On
K. Saragev's "Color Hearing". Leonardo. Vol. 34. Number 4. August
2001. Pp. 355-356.
Galeev,
Bulat Makhmudovich. “Was
Scriabin a Synesthete?
“
Leonardo. Vol. 34. Number 4. August 2001. Pp. 357-361.
[11]
Malito,
Giovanni:
“Synesthetics.”
Http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=6818.
[12]
Cf.
for this theme: Motluk,
Alison. "The Sweet Smell of Purple." New Scientist; 13 August.
1994. Pp. 32-37.
Cytowic,
R.
E.
The Man Who Tasted Shapes. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press 1998.
[13]
For the historical background cf.: Ione, Amy, and Christopher Tyler.
"Was Kandinsky a synesthete?" Journal of the History of the
Neurosciences. Vol. 12.2. 2003. Pp. 223-226.
[14]
Cf.: Kandinsky,
Wassily: Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by Michael T. H.
Sadler.
[15]
Cf.: Kandinsky,
Wassily: Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by Michael T. H.
Sadler.
[16]
Cf.: Kandinsky,
Wassily: Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by Michael T. H.
Sadler.
[17]
Cf.: Kandinsky,
Wassily: Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by Michael T. H.
Sadler.
[18]
Cf.: Kandinsky,
Wassily: Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by Michael T. H.
Sadler.
[19]
Cf.: Kandinsky,
Wassily: Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by Michael T. H.
Sadler.
[20]
Kay, Paul. "Synchronic variability and diachronic change in basic color
terms." Language in Society. Vol. 4. 1975. Pp. 257-270.
Kay,
Paul, and Regiel,
Terry.
" Resolving the question of color naming universals." Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol. 100 (15); 22 July. 2003.
Pp.
9085-9089.
[21]
Cf. for art and synesthesia:
Basbaum,
Sérgio Roclaw. Sinestesia, arte e tecnologia: Fundamentos da cromossonia. São
Paulo: Annablume 2002.
Pp. 34ff.