Scents are essential to sexuality, social status, personal and cultural
identity. From hygiene to aromatherapy, the foul to the fragrant, smell is
shown here to be much more than a physical act of perception. Considered
ephemeral, scents have survived throughout the ages as crucial to religious
practices. This book addresses the sense of smell.Smell is fundamental to experience but mired in paradox. Stigmatized as
animalistic, it nonetheless feeds a vast fragrance industry. Considered
ephemeral, scents have survived throughout the ages as crucial to religious
practices. Perhaps most surprising, smell has been largely overlooked in
cultural studies. "The Smell Culture Reader" provides a much-needed overview of
what is arguably our most elusive sense. Sight and hearing have been the
subject of numerous books, while the so-called 'lower senses' have remained
relatively unexplored despite powerful and complex social meanings. Scents are
essential to sexuality, social status, personal and cultural identity. From
hygiene to aromatherapy, the foul to the fragrant, smell is shown here to be
much more than a physical act of perception. Addressing this engaging sense in
redolent detail, "The Smell Culture Reader" will be essential reading for
anyone who really wants to put their nose in a book.
