Synesthesia: reading rainbows

[mortalterror]

Synesthesia is a mental condition where people mix up sensations. They sometimes hear colors, smell sounds, or taste sights. This doesn't happen all of the time, but sometimes I get a touch of it when I'm reading. For instance, I perceive Ernest Hemingway's writing as a grayish steely blue. Nabokov is scarlet. Hawthorne is brown. James is a peachy orange cream color, and Kafka is a green so dark it's almost black. This usually only happens when I read the very best kind of literature, something I'm already having an emotional reaction to. Sometimes it's the words that color and sometimes it's like there are ribbons of color in my mind. The most memorable time this happened was about two years ago. I was reading Dante's Inferno and a blue door opened inside of my head. Interestingly enough, Dante shares the royal blue color with T.S. Eliot and Victor Hugo, although they are slightly different shades ranging from a pure dark blue to almost purple. I've thought that they might be employing similar techniques to achieve that effect, but I haven't pursued it. Wikipedia mentioned that one in twenty-three people might have a variant of this; so I was wondering if anybody else had ever had a similar experience. Note, this is different from Stendhal Syndrome, where a person becomes physically overpowered by a work of art.

[Virgil]

I never knew it was an actual mental condition. I thought it was just a literary technique. Are you sure it's a mental condition?

[mortalterror]

Here's what I'm talking about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

[Virgil]

Thanks. I either forgot or never knew that it was an actual condition in addition to a literary device.

[Chester]

Yes, I’ve heard of this. I think I’m jealous for not having experienced a work in this way. Or maybe it’s a curse, I don’t know. Of course some works, poetry especially, rely on a lot of metaphor that gets us close to this state. We can read about a "morning’s gentle touch" for example and almost feel the physical touch. But for the true synesthete, the phenomenon is more real and, from what I understand, completely involuntary.

[johann cruyff]

I always thought this was a great thing and even slightly envied those who had this amazing ability...I'm not sure how the people who actually have this "condition" feel about it?Maybe they're somewhat burdened by it?

Anyway,I know Alexander Scriabin,Nikolay Rimski-Korsakov and Franz Liszt were synesthetes.It does seem to occur amongst composers the most.

[JBI]

Nabokov had this condition, as did his wife, and as does his son. The Composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had this condition as well, where different keys of music actually took different colors.

[GoofyFlamingo]

I'm not sure how the people who actually have this "condition" feel about it?Maybe they're somewhat burdened by it?


to answer your question, johann, it varies between synesthetes and the type of synesthesia. the one described at the top is a very intersting type of synesthesia, i've never heard of it before. it would be interesting to experience, as all forms are. for me, i have one where colors, numbers, and symbols have color. as a poet i haven't used it much as a device. i don't feel burdened by it, except when i'm reading a poem or peice of literature and its describing something, lets say an empty hole that the author is trapped in. and they're using words that describe how dark it is. but i'll be reading it, trying to imagine the dark hole, and all these bright words are floating around inside illuminating it. so it can destroy imagery sometimes. but otherwise i actually enjoy it sometimes.

[johann cruyff]

to answer your question, johann, it varies between synesthetes and the type of synesthesia. the one described at the top is a very intersting type of synesthesia, i've never heard of it before. it would be interesting to experience, as all forms are. for me, i have one where colors, numbers, and symbols have color. as a poet i haven't used it much as a device. i don't feel burdened by it, except when i'm reading a poem or peice of literature and its describing something, lets say an empty hole that the author is trapped in. and they're using words that describe how dark it is. but i'll be reading it, trying to imagine the dark hole, and all these bright words are floating around inside illuminating it. so it can destroy imagery sometimes. but otherwise i actually enjoy it sometimes.

Sounds very cool,despite the dark empty hole problem:)

Do you notice this in every text,or just in something written down on a piece of paper,or...?I'm sorry if I'm slightly annoying,but I'm very interested in this.

[GoofyFlamingo]

Sounds very cool,despite the dark empty hole problem:)

Do you notice this in every text,or just in something written down on a piece of paper,or...?I'm sorry if I'm slightly annoying,but I'm very interested in this.

everything written down, and then when i think about words or letters too.

the way i describe it for me is with flamingos (i love flamingos, so cute. but besides the point). pretend you have a black and white picture of a flamingo. you know that its supposed to be pink, because you've seen a flamingo before and it was pink and you've been taught that thats what color a flamingo is supposed to be. and if you took that picture and colored the flamingo blue it would just look wrong. and if you read a poem, and it was describing a flamingo, you would be thinking about a pink flamingo. but then if the poem randomly said it was a blue flamingo, you would have a conflicting image in your mind, until you finally convinced yourself that the flamingo in the poem was indeed blue.

now replace that flamingo with a letter, or number, or symbol, and thats how it is for me.

[Sir Bartholomew]

yes i get them too. but i usually associate them with food.

[johann cruyff]

everything written down, and then when i think about words or letters too.

the way i describe it for me is with flamingos (i love flamingos, so cute. but besides the point). pretend you have a black and white picture of a flamingo. you know that its supposed to be pink, because you've seen a flamingo before and it was pink and you've been taught that thats what color a flamingo is supposed to be. and if you took that picture and colored the flamingo blue it would just look wrong. and if you read a poem, and it was describing a flamingo, you would be thinking about a pink flamingo. but then if the poem randomly said it was a blue flamingo, you would have a conflicting image in your mind, until you finally convinced yourself that the flamingo in the poem was indeed blue.

now replace that flamingo with a letter, or number, or symbol, and thats how it is for me.

Got it.I can see how this might be a problem for you sometimes though.