Perfume and Literature: The Persistence of the Ephemeral

How can you describe a perfume? How can you put into words a presence that is fleeting but intense, embodied in an evanescent fragrance? This volume analyses the relations between writing and olfactive sensations as eloquent signs of world cultures, of the diverse sensitivity with which we each interpret its nuances. As regards their style, content, and approach to the subject, the essays in this collection offer a kaleidoscopic overview of a ‘literary-olfactive’ universe that ranges from Antiquity, Renaissance culture, Symbolism, and the fin de siècle Decadent Movement up to post-modern world-shaking literary phenomena. The aim of this collection is to enrich the extensive bibliography on the precious art of perfumery or the history of essences and perfumes, with studies expanded in an original way to the literary field. It does not limit itself to offering enlightened insights into works and authors – some of whom are very well known, whilst others deserve to be rediscovered in a new light. Above all it offers an innovative and idiosyncratic interpretation of what a study of perfume in literature actually means, with a selection of contributions that explore an intricate, diversified thematic itinerary with both curiosity and eclecticism.