Saturated Sensorium

Beskrivelse

The Middle Ages brought together the human senses, creating a culture rich in layered sensory experiences. Saturated Sensorium explores this vibrant sensory world, revealing how medieval perception and mediation were deeply intertwined and complex.

An exploration of medieval sensory and multisensory experiences across culture and history.

This book delves into the ways the Middle Ages combined multiple senses and media into a culture of intense sensation. It examines medieval multi- and intermediality within both tangible and intangible cultural history.

The sensory experiences discussed span a wide range of medieval life, including religion, art, archaeology, architecture, literature, liturgy, music, monasticism, miracles, cult practices, piety, love, eating, drinking, cognition, memory, and burial rituals.

It reflects on how perception was shaped by practices such as ritual, devotion, consumption (whether sacred or secular), memory, sanctity in people or perceptions, church environments, sacramental imagery, romantic representation, and the blending of word, image, song, and dance.

The book highlights the complex interplay of the five Aristotelian senses, visus (sight), auditus (hearing), tactus (touch), olfactus (smell), and gustus (taste), and reveals that medieval sensory experience went far beyond these classical categories.

Its goal is to enrich our understanding of medieval mediation, pushing beyond traditional modern and classical ideas about communication and sensory experience.

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