Syneasthesia

Abstract

Synesthesia, a transdisciplinary term used by representatives of various fields of science and art, refers to a whole range of more or less related phenomena, the common foundation of which is the principle of intersensuality. The article presents a multi-disciplinary panorama of the phenomenon of synesthesia, situated in the interdisciplinary context of neurology, demography, genetics, semantics and poetics. The text synthetically reports the history of research on the phenomenon, discusses the features, types and diagnostic determinants of clinical synesthesia, points to the dominant theories of synesthesia, indicates linguistic aspects and forms of intersensuality, lists the differences and similarities between clinical synesthesia and metaphor, and finally - outlines the characteristics and types of literary synesthesia, initially identifying historical and literary areas of special privilege and a clear functionalisation of literary synesthesia, which has historically become both a tool for "total" art projects and an extremely subjective medium - individualistic experience of perception, body, and ideas.