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> The editor picked up a newspaper and read at length from it, challenging S. to repeat everything back to him. When S. did so verbatim, the editor sent him to
by Pimpus 8y ago
> The editor picked up a newspaper and read at length from it, challenging S. to repeat everything back to him. When S. did so verbatim, the editor sent him to have his head examined.
Not sure whether intentional but this is the funniest thing I've read in a long time.
- keiferski 8y agoThere are all sorts of hilarious little absurdist anecdotes in the book. Take this one: S: I'm sitting in a restaurant—there's music. You know why they have music in restaurants? Because it changes the taste of everything. If you select the right kind of music, everything tastes good. Surely people who work in restaurants know this.
- coldtea 8y agoWell, that's not really absurd or far for the truth. Music is selected for its effects on the consumer in all kinds of commercial establishments, and besides trial-and-error (this kind of music works best for people to drink more in our bar etc) there are lots of commercial research into it.
- keiferski 8y agoIn the context of the story and Shereshevsky's personality, it is. To him, a person with extremely strong synesthesia, musical sounds literally have flavors, flavors that are as strong as actual real food to a normal person. He isn't saying, "Restaurants play certain music to push customers to feel a certain way," he's literally saying that the flavors of music can match and enhance the flavors of food.
- analogyexpert 8y agoIt could still be argued that the difference is in degree rather than in kind- that the 'extra bandwidth connecting his senses' allowed him to clearly articulate as sensation a phenomenon much more subconscious in the typical patron's mind.
- keiferski 8y agoNo, not really. If you read the book, you will see that his mind was very idiosyncratic and the associations he made were highly unique and imagination-based, and not some sort of heightened sensory input.