getting synesthetic
if you’re like me, one of your favourite pastimes is licking toads, firing up some allman bros on your microsoft zune, and finger-painting with fastfood condiments until your mom comes in and tells you to clean up your mess and remove your goth makeup and take off your sequined cocktail dress and stop feeding your mogwai after midnight.
maybe, however you’re like annie besant and c.w. leadbeater who, in their 1901 book thought-forms, instead of finger-painting to the allman bros, thought it might be an enjoyable exercise to try and render the sound of wagner, gounod, and mendelssohn into oil paintings.
the resulting images could certainly be considered an early demonstration of synesthesia: the super power which permitted nabokov to see words as colours and some guy named james wannerton to “taste” sounds.
Many people are aware that sound is always associated with colour—that when, for example, a musical note is sounded, a flash of colour corresponding to it may be seen by those whose finer senses are already to some extent developed. It seems not to be so generally known that sound produces form as well as colour, and that every piece of music leaves behind it an impression of this nature, which persists for some considerable time, and is clearly visible and intelligible to those who have eyes to see.
in [the Mendelssohn plate] we have a small and comparatively simple form pourtrayed in considerable detail, something of the effect of each note being given; in [the Gounod plate] we have a more elaborate form of very different character delineated with less detail, since no attempt is made to render the separate notes, but only to show how each chord expresses itself in form and colour; in [the Wagner plate] we have a still greater and richer form, in the depiction of which all detail is avoided, in order that the full effect of the piece as a whole may be approximately given.
if your zune is loaded with felix mendelssohn’s no. 9 of “songs without words,” or charles gounod’s soldiers chorus from “faust”, or richard wagner’s overture to “the meistersingers,” you can listen to these pieces as you go about your gardening work. or if you are an elite synesthete, you can give these striking images a once-over and be left with a similar aesthetic aftertaste.
![how to make an edwardian-era study [full plans]
when i woke up this morning, i realised that my favourite pair of bespoke socks (angora rabbit hair with an argyle design in the colours of trinity college) had been used as a smörgåsbord by a family of ugly moths. so it goes without saying that i started this particular tee-gee-eye-eff in a pretty sour state.
BUT! then i came across a 1905 article called the study: its building and equipment which gives highly detailed instructions on how to make your own edwardian-era book den. here is what you need to know about me: it’s my older brother ranulph who stands to inherit ganan manor (and along with it, my grandfather’s throbbingly masculine, oak-paneled study). therefore, these detailed plans will be highly useful when the time comes for me to erect my own ganan manor and an even more throbbingly masculine study to plot my revenge.
at any rate, here is how the article starts:
If, as is so often said, the Englishman’s home is his castle…the study is, of all places, the keep of that castle…Therein the lord of the domain was wont to lay mighty plans, perchance for the development of his estate, perchance for the overthrow of his enemies. Therein he contemplated his adversities and the cruelty of fate and therein he thought good thoughts for the welfare of his kindred, his friends and his people. The very word “study” produces a whole train of terms—thought, contemplation, patience, faith, hope, charity, progress, development,—and the room itself should assist these ideas, stimulating the brain to higher ideals and nobler aspirations.
it only gets better from there. here are some bulleted items to keep in mind when you and i are designing private library rooms of our own:
Quietness and repose are essentials, and no sound of pianos, of removal and washing of crockery, of the romping of children, or any noise likely to distract, should be allowed to reach the study.
In most cases the study should be upon the ground floor so that when necessity arises, interviews can take place without callers having to travel half over the house.
It is well known that the early hours of the day are those in which the brain is clearest and most active.
A study facing south and southwest becomes so hot, so unbearably stuffy that the brain is overpowered, fatigued, and quite powerless to act.
Such a room must not be too exciting [but also] every precaution must be taken to keep it from becoming damp and doleful.
Rooms with windows on two walls can be better aired, and vitiated air more quickly removed.
All cement should be up to the British standard specification and should be scientifically tested.
Locks should be good and come from one of the best firms.
Should an untidy maid put her hand upon [your hand-made glazed tiles] the marks can easily be removed without damage being done.
Electric lighting if it can be obtained has much to recommend it on the score of cleanliness.
my takeaway: a study facing south with closed windows and vitiated air is an early 1900s dutch oven.](http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lc51rlmPP01qzrip0o1_500.png)
