PROUST'S LIME-FLOWER TEA AND MADELEINES * COLETTE'S FLOWERS, WHICH CARRIED HER BACK TO CHILDHOOD GARDENS AND HER MOTHER, SIDO * VIRGINIA WOOLF'S PARADE OF CITY SMELLS * JOYCE'S MEMORIES OF BABY URINE AND OILCLOTH, HOLINESS AND SIN * KIPLING'S RAIN-DAMP ACACIA, WHICH REMINDED HIM OF HOME, AND THE COMPLEX MILITARY-BARRACKS SMELLS OF MILITARY LIFE (ONE WHIFF IS ALL ARABIA); DOSTOEVSKYS PETERSBURG STENCH * COLERIDGE'S NOTEBOOKS, IN WHICH HE RECALLED THAT A DUNGHILL AT A DISTANCE SMELLS LIKE MUSK, AND A DEAD DOG LIKE ELDER FLOWERS * FLAUBERT'S RHAPSODIC ACCOUNTS OF SMELLING HIS LOVERS SLIPPERS AND MITTENS, WHICH HE KEPT IN HIS DESK DRAWER;THOREAUS MOONLIGHT WALKS THROUGH THE FIELDS WHEN THE TASSELS OF CORN SMELLED DRY, THE HUCKLEBERRY BUSHES OOZED MUSTINESS, AND THE BERRIES OF THE WAX MYRTLE SMELLED LIKE SMALL CONFECTIONERY * BAUDELAIRE'S PLUNGES INTO SMELL UNTIL HIS SOUL SOARS UPON PERFUME AS THE SOULS OF OTHER MEN SOAR UPON MUSIC * MILTON'S DESCRIPTION OF THE ODORS GOD FINDS PLEASING TO HIS DIVINE NOSTRILS AND THOSE PREFERRED BY SATAN, AN ACE SNIFFER-OUT OF CARRION (OF CARNAGE, PREY INNUMERABLE SCENT OF LIVING CARCASSES) * ROBERT HERRICK'S FETISHISTIC AND INTIMATE SNIFFING OF HIS SWEETHEART, WHOSE BREASTS, LIPS, HANDS, THIGHS, LEGS ARE ALL/ RICHLY AROMATICAL, INDEED ALL THE SPICES OF THE EAST/ARE CIRCUMFUSED THERE * WALT WHITMANS' PRAISE OF SWEATS AROMA FINER THAN PRAYER * FRANCOIS MAURIACS' LA ROBE PRETEXTE, WHICH IS ADOLESCENCE REMEMBERED THROUGH ITS SMELLS * CHAUCER'S THE MILLERS TALE, WHERE WE FIND ONE OF THE FIRST MENTIONS IN LITERATURE OF BREATH DEODORANTS * SHAKESPEARE'S MIRACULOUSLY DELICATE FLOWER SIMILES (TO THE VIOLET HE SAYS: SWEET THIEF, WHENCE DIDST THOUGH STEAL THE SWEET, IF NOT FROM MY LOVERS BREATH?) * CZESLAW MILOSZS' LINEN CLOSET, FILLED WITH THE MUTE TUMULT OF MEMORIES * JORIS-KARL HUYSMANS' OBSESSION WITH NASAL HALLUCINATIONS, AND THE SMELLS OF LIQUEURS AND WOMENS SWEAT THAT FILLS HIS LUSH, ALMOST UNIMAGINABLY DECADENT, HEDONISTIC NOVEL, A REBOURS. ABOUT ONE CHARACTER, HUYSMANS EXPLAINED THAT SHE WAS AN ILL-BALANCED, NERVE-RIDDEN WOMAN, WHO LOVED TO HAVE HER NIPPLES MACERATED IN SCENTS, BUT WHO REALLY EXPERIENCED A GENUINE AND OVERMASTERING ECSTASY WHEN HER HEAD WAS TICKLED WITH A COMB AND SHE COULD, IN THE ACT OF BEING CARESSED BY A LOVER, BREATHE THE SMELL OF THE CHIMNEY SOOT, OF WET FROM A HOUSE BUILDING IN RAINY WEATHER, OR OF DUST OF A SUMMER STORM.
FROM DIANE ACKERMAN, A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES
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