Diane Ackerman Case

Diane Ackerman, the author of A Natural History of the Senses (1990), states that her thoughts on how senses work and function together in our daily life in her essay “Synesthesia”. Also, she thinks that senses are always related to our perception too. According to Ackerman, “synesthesia is the technical name, from the Greek syn (together) + aisthanesthai (to perceive). Synesthesia occurs when “The stimulation of one sense stimulates another :( P. 289)” She says that everyone experiences some intermingling of the senses which is “sight, sound, touch, taste, and, especially, smell (P. 290)” in daily life.

Ackerman separates her essay into two parts in Fantasia and Courting the Muse. Fantasia introduces the concept of synesthesia. It also uses psychologist and neurologist to introduce that sound and color are related. Synesthesia can be taught through our memories based on our thinking and seeing of both tangible and intangible object that related to its smell, taste, feel, and sound. Ackerman supports her points by referencing several examples of musicians and writers who experienced different forms of synesthesia. The second section, Courting the Muse, is a discussion of many artists and writers behaviours in their writing process. For example, they start their brainstorming stage while standing up, taking a bath, walking, listening to music, and drinking alcohol. Some of the unusual methods included lying in a coffin, picking fleas from a cat, having a head cold, and writing in the nude. In the first section, the author organizes the content of information by using statistical examples to persuade readers believe in her point. On the other hand, the second section, Ackerman uses examples explain her point and to increase the readers’ level of understanding.

Ackerman’s writing style can be described as a combination of poetry, history, and science. In the first paragraph, she uses metaphors such as “A creamy blur of succulent blue sound smells like week-old strawberries dropped onto a tin sieve as mother approaches in a halo of color, chatter, and a perfume like thick golden butterscotch.(P. 289)” to describe how her senses relate to another sense as the introduction of the essay. Although the essay is not easy to understand, it gives me a picture of her point. For an example, odour can only be smell in many people’s perception, but not be seen, touched, felt, and heard. However, Ackerman uses that "He hears odour, and sees odours, and feels them too." as a support to explain that a sense produced when another sense is applied. I gained the understanding