The olfactive universe: scents and sensibility in arts, language and discourse

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The olfactive universe: scents and sensibility in arts, language and discourse

Alla D. Belova, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Abstract

The article deals with the ways smell is exhibited and described in modern arts, discourse, virtual communication. The focus is on nouns and adjectives related to smell and smelling known as olfactory words as well as communication strategies implemented by the best perfume brands to convey the idea of fragrance in on-line trading and create the olfactive universe as a combination of art and categorization of smell and smelling in English.

Key words: smell, scent, fragrance, olfactory, olfactive.

Аннотация

Посвящена изучению способов передачи запаха в современном искусстве, дискурсе, коммуникации. В фокусе внимания имена существительные и прилагательные, семантически соотносимые с явлением запаха, а также коммуникативные стратегии, используемые производителями самых известных парфюмерных брендов в онлайновой торговле для адекватной передачи запахов и ароматов, создания ольфакторного пространства как единства искусства и категоризации запахов и ароматов в английском языке.

Ключевые слова: запах, аромат, благовоние, ольфакторный, ольфактивный.

Анотація

Присвячено вивченню способів передачі запахів у сучасному мистецтві, дискурсі, комунікації. У фокусі уваги іменники, прикметники, що семантично співвідносяться із запахом, пахощами, а також комунікативні стратегії, які використовують виробники найкращих парфюмерних брендів із метою адекватної передачі ароматів в онлайновій торгівлі, створення ольфакторного простору як єдності мистецтва й категоризації запахів та ароматів в англійській мові.

Ключові слова: запах, аромат, пахощі, ольфакторний, ольфактивний.

Visual erception and visual images dominated in arts for centuries. In the world museums visitors mostly perceive exhibits by the eye. The museums take care of the light, sounds, smell to provide the neutrality of the atmosphere and give the chance to focus on the art pieces. Probably, we have to admit that sound and, correspondingly, hearing was another sense introduced into some exhibitions of modern art to accompany visual cognition. Thus, in Brussels, in the Musical Instruments Museum visitors can examine musical instruments of the past centuries and hearthe tunes they produce. In the Musical Instruments Museum in Munich one can choose one of the selected instrumentsof the collection pushing the corresponding button to hear the sounds it can produce.

In the 21^stcentury, all the senses -- not only sight and hearing but touch, taste, smell are becoming a part of the museum multi sensory experience. Art becomes experiential. On the other hand, it is a new way of presenting the arts. The interest to five senses was stimulated by the five-panelled masterpiece 'Five Senses' by Hans Makart. It became one of the major attractions in Viennese museums.The trend to make smelling,feeling, tasting an object of art became noticeable within avante-garde in the 1960s when Futurists formulated new art concepts. Great interest to smell was expressed in Olfactory Art Manifest published in 2014 but traced back to the Futurism Manifestof 1913. Major idea of the Manifest is that "smell becomes more valued as 'part of the work of art' or as 'smell as the work of art' in itself".[12]

The word olfactorycan be traced back to the Latin verb olfacere (to smell). A number of abstract nouns, - ism - derivativessignal that smell and smelling are being conceptualized and categorized in detail in Eng- lish. Sometimes the meaning of the word olfactory is narrowed to aroma produced by food (Olfactory - food that produces impact on the nose) [10]. Recently another adjective has become popular, olfactive- of or pertaining to the sense of smell; olfactory [19]. In line with Google, olfactive is often associated with scent, fragrance and perfume.

Smell experts and druggists admit that "of the five senses, that of smelling is the least valued, and, as a consequence, is the least tutored... " [14, p. 2]. In the past centuries, "the patrons of perfumery have always been considered the most civilized and refined people of the earth....Of the use of these luxuries by the Greeks, and afterwards by the Romans, Pliny and Seneca give much information respecting perfume drugs, the method of collecting them, and the prices at which they sold. Oils and powder perfumery were most lavishly used, for even three times a day did some of the luxurious people anoint and scent themselves, carrying their precious perfumes with them to the baths in costly and elegant boxes called NARTHECIA. .As an art, in England, perfumery has attained little or no distinction" [14, p. 2,9,10].

Now smell is as popular as never has been in the art sandre search [9, 15, 16]. There is a wave of publications in Linguistics [1-7]. Smell is considered essential as a channel and means of impact within Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). There is a noticeable interest from the perfume industry. Fashion industry produces dresses with fragrance, so new technologies become wearable.

Some leading museums organize exhibitions where five senses are exhibited and exploited. Among so called Smell installations one can find Scent paintings, Scent sculptures, Scent drawings, Scent rooms, Scent architecture, Smell devices. During smell performances known as Perfu- mancesthe visitors are presented with sniff-samples of raw materials and complex fragrances to learn the natural ingredients in various olfactive families, such as fruits, florals, woods etc. Visitors of modern art exhibitions can practice smell dancing and examine smell maps of cities as well.

The Art of Scent 1889-2012 in November 2012 was one of the first major museum exhibitions to recognize scent as a major medium of artistic creation, to demonstrate the evolution of aesthetics, to illustrate major innovations in scent design. In 2015 The Tate Sensorium worked in London [20] where visitors could use their senses to experience art indifferent ways. The exhibition was much spoken about in media with the headlines The Tate Sensorium: taste, touch and smell art./Don't just look: smell, feel and hear art /Tate's new way of experiencing paintings. The organizers of the exhibition decided to bring in smells into the rooms, objects to touch, to create a non-traditional atmosphere at the exhibition. The exhibition was small (four visitors only were admitted at a time) but unique: every visitor had a wrist band which recorded his/ her biometrical data, so called elec- trodermal activity, feelings, emotions, body reaction, brain impulses while they perceived the exhibits. Then the data is to be analyzed by the team of scientists from the Sussex University. The National Gallery organized Soundscapes show with so called Sound Paintings providing audio interpretations for paintings employing a range of technological innovations.To prevent any contact with the exhibits multisensory environmentis created with the help of digital technologies.At Multi sensory Met: Touch, Smell, and Hear Art in September 2015the visitors were given multisensory bookletse- quipped with touch-activated sounds and smells so that the visitor could examine each artwork and interact with the corresponding activity in the booklet" [21].Among the exhibits Claude Monet's Garden at Sainte-Adresse where all the things in the painting smell how they might in real life andJean Monet (1867-1913) on His Hobby Horse. The Metropolitan Museum of Art organizedthe exhibition with the focus on smell-sensorium-art-soundscapes- chocolates-invisible-rainwithchocolate placed in front of the painting as key figure of the exhibition. Other museums show Scratch-and-Sniff Paintingsus- ing powdered fragrances and spices. "They are applied with a stamp pad so that different parts of the painting would give off different scents". There is a regular exhibition Beauty-Cooper Hewitt Design Triennialwith a focus on aesthetic innovation [8].There are many olfactory installations there. There one can see the works of SisselTolaas known as artist, chemist and smell expert, who managed to chisel out a niche for the smell design.Generally, there are more and more exhibitions with the titles The Language of Scents and Perfumery or Technology and Innovation in Fine Fragrance.

Expertsin the world of fashion and perfume left a number of remarkable statementsabout perfume and its role for the image of the woman. "Perfume is the indispensable complement to the personality of women, the finishing touch on a dress / A woman's perfume tells more about her than her handwriting” (Christian Dior) “Perfume puts the finishingtouch to elegance - a detailthat subtly underscores the look, an invisible ex- trathat completes a woman'spersonality. Without it, there is something missing (Gianni Versace) A perfume is like a piece of clothing, a message, a way of presenting oneself ... a costume ... that differs according to the woman who wears it. (Paloma Picasso) ”A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future ”/,, Where should I use perfume?A young woman asked. Wherever one wantsto be kissed (Coco Chanel). One of the best known phrases about perfume is attributed to Marilyn Monroe,the icon of style and cinema: ”What do I wear to bed? Why, Chanel No. 5 of course ”.

Philosophers and poets also conceptualized smell and scent and its role in life and experience of a human, in cognition and memory: ''Perfume is the key to our memories”. (The Perfume Garden) ''Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it”. (Vladimir Nabokov)”If you are possessed by an idea, you will find it expressed everywhere, you even smell it. '(Thomas Mann)”Perfumes are the feelings offlowers”. (Heinrich Heine)

One of the most remarkable verbalizations of smell and smelling is the novel Perfume. The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind, with the one of the best conceptualizations of smell, scent, fragrance in literature. The novel made a shift from the language units with the semantics of smell and smelling to the text and discourse, with the focus on exaggerated and unique human ability. It contains numerous descriptions of a wide range of different fragrances, scents and smells ranging from good, nice, captivating, the sweetest fragrances to bad smells.

In modem English we find a number of nouns and adjectives associated with smell:

• smell - stink, trace, whiff, bouquet, aroma, flavor, perfume, scent, stench, trail, savor, essence, emanation, incense, tang, fragrance, redolence, spice, aura, balm,

• fragrant, perfumed, pungent, savory, scented, spicy, sweet, ambrosial, balmy, odoriferous, redolent.

All these words verbalize the cognitive category of Smell and Smelling in English. [17, 18, 19]. How often are these words used in Modern English discourse, within General English orESP of perfumery? Which of them are used to describe cooking and meals?

Table 1 Frequency data of smell-related (British National Corpus)

Noteworthy, in most cases in line with Google,first associations with smell in kitchen are negative [22, 23] what is proved by the combinability of the words: How to Get Rid of the Smell of Fish After Cooking / 10 Ways To Get Rid Of Pesky Cooking Smells /...5 smart ways to zap kitchen odors /to eliminate cooking smells/ Odor removal /Get Rid of Kitchen Smells - Kitchen Deodorizing and...

Good, nice, appetizing, great smells (10 ways to make Your house smell delicious/ amazing) are rated the second in terms of cooking. These smells are specifiedand connected with particular ingredients or dishes [24-26]. For example, in forums and blogs: 5 Great Food Smells

1. Fried onions cooking

2. Banana bread baking (extra points if it has chocolate chips in it)

3. A perfectly ripe tomato as you slice into it, especially on a warm, sunny day

4. Coffee brewing

5. Garlic bread, fresh out of the oven

Agree with my choices? What's in your Top 5?

1. Homemade apple and cinammon crumble 2. Hot irish whiskey, with lemon and cloves. 3. Roasted chicken dinner with all the trimmings! 4. Freshly sliced ginger root. 5. Freshly baked soda bread/ 5. Garlic browning in oil 4. Bread Baking 3. Brisket cooking 2. Matzo ball soup simmering 1. Bacon frying.

It becomes clear almost at first sight that the smell of bread baking dominates. As some prominent people stated: "Of all smells, bread; of all tastes, salt". (George Herbert) "The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight..." (M. F. K. Fisher, The Art of Eating)

Smell and taste in cooking very often go together. The description of smell is strongly associated with natural ingredients and substances. Sometimes adjectives to describe smell are derived from relevant nouns- oaky, nutty, lemony, citrusy, grassy, candy, grapey etc.

In the epoch of on-line trading and shift of potential customers to Internet, perfume manufactures faced a challenge to convey the idea of a particular fragrance in Internet communication. Smell experts and brandmakers realized that they have to create the olfactive universe in virtual world, to unite smell and art in order to convey the concept, the idea of the fragrance. In perfume advertising minimum smell-related words listed in the dictionaries areused - fragrance, scent, aroma, smell. Naturally, in line with advertising rules, adjectives to describe scent are reduced to sweetsmelling, adjectives, with positive evaluative meaning only.

Combinability analysis of perfumeson-line catalogues and sites gives the following results:

• classic / modem/ stimulating/ elegant/ contradictory/ spirited / cheerful / intriguing / unforgettable / charismatic / oriental/ cool/ warm/ dry/ sweet/soft, woody/ delicate / sensual/ captivating/ radiant /floral fragrance

• afragrance full of freshness and refinement

• fragrance of mystery

• a warm/ sensual/ enveloping/ almost carnal / lazy/ repetitive/ pleasant smell

• secretive/ discreet scent

• delicate /sweet odor

• olfactory counterpoint / moments/poems/ marvels.

Quite oftenthe adjectives used to describe the scent appeal to emotions, familiar images that can be recognized and decoded by potential users:

• THE NEW FORBIDDEN FRUIT

• A landscape in Provence, dry earth, fragrant purple fields, the wind of the mistral...

• A sort of escape inspired by the invigorating, stimulating smell of the Brittany coast. A pirate Hermessence.

• "Red, perfume-colored passion, rich with the smells of the Orient”.

• This exceptional fragrance combines the mysteries of both sensuality and elegance.

• The fragrance is a mysterious, faraway continent in itself.

• this smell which could be described as lazy and repetitive

• Fragrance of spices cut through with the invigorating smell of the sea.

But theabsolutemajorityofadjectivesaredirectlyrelatedtothesmelloffruits,

flowers, plants, substance susedinper fume-making:

• the flowers exuded a strong scent of apricot and freesia/ elegant vapour of white musks / liveliness and freshness of citrus fruits

• no smell more joyful than mandarin, more mellow than amber

• A barely perceptible breeze of hay paired with a soft whisper of orange blossom makes for a hidden surprise.

• Unexpected, elegant and extravagant, lavender as it appears in our dreams.

• I wanted to invite you to discover smells of spices, rum, waxed wooden floors and smoked woods.

• The peppery, musky, slightly smoky scent of the cut wood etched itself in my memory. The soul of the old oak, mixed with pepper, lives on in this fragrance.

• The fragrance of a strange flower, light as a trade wind, wafting under our noses with hints of spice, cognac and smoked wood, somewhere between petals and cigars, skin and cocoa.

• Intrinsically cheerful mandarin is combined with sparkling passion fruit which is itself revealed by the mellowness of amber.

• brightened by citrus fruits, currants and raspberries.

• the fragrance is a green floral harmony in which daffodils, narcissi, galbanum, red fruits and vetiver take turns to shine

• The freshness and exuberance of bergamot and white Alba truffle turn into a caress with an elegant note of Smeggia peach. In this luminous and immediately sensual trail, blossoms a bouquet of jasmine and tuberose, touched by delicate vanilla.

In perfume advertising some communication strategies associated with relevant concepts are used - seduction/ temptation, creation of femininity and creation of perfection. The selection of language units, including fragrance description is subordinated to these concepts.

Seduction as a strategy is visible in the following fragrance descriptions:

• POISON. EAU DE TOILETTE. Some perfumes are born a myth. Provocative and mysterious since its creation, Poison is Dior's ultimate weapon of seduction. Its exceptional alchemy is created by a rich blend of spicy, fruity and amber notes with sensual honey and musk accords. / A novel of love, rich writing, an oriental feel, expressing an assertive and sensual femininity.

• Once upon a time, there was a fragrance that was innocent yet captivating, sincere yet mysterious... Pure Poison incarnates seduction in its purest state by exploring its duality and irresistible alchemy. ..thisdelicate yet generous modern potion reveals the seductress within.

• "Calиche or the essence of classicism. Seduction through the beauty of the soul".

• Synonymous with seduction: essential oil ... with an erotic and addictive smell; the richness of .notes gives it a sensuality unlike any other in the world of perfumery.

Another communication strategy is creation of femininity:

COCO NOIR reinvents Oriental fragrances to reveal an intimate and mysterious new vision of femininity.

The striking scent offers a modern composition that combines power and delicacy, expressing luminous floral facets and a sensual, magnetic resonance.

The luminous fragrance for women. A striking blend with heightened notes of Bourbon Vanilla and New Caledonian Sandalwood reveals a warm, sensual facet. The parfum offers the most precious, longest- lasting concentration of this enigmatic fragrance. Strikingly presented in a black-glass interpretation of the iconic Classic Bottle.

Magnetic and uncompromising, COCO NOIR reveals a black that is intimate. seductive and intensely brilliant.

Very often both concepts, seduction and femininity, augment each other: The fragrances of the Poison line take new directions with daring provocation. They are fragrances created to surprise and astonish, to let women assert their femininity with confidence.

The third strategy is the creation of perfection: "Perfume in the absolute. An explosion of white flowers, enveloping warmth, captivating sensuality."(24, Faubourg).

All the communication strategies and careful selection of language units very often make one complex semantic and communication 'fragrance' to make people buy and enjoy the perfume. Fall in love with perfumes! Be Feminine! Be Perfect! Keep on smelling!

smell perfume communication discourse

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