The Colour of Angels

Cosmology, Gender and the Aesthetic Imagination

By: Constance Classen

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Paperback | 8 October 1998 | Edition Number 1

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Paperback
248 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.39 x 15.6 x 1.32

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Constance Classen invites us to explore whether or not angels have a color, or even a scent; to imagine the senses as mystics and artists have through the centuries. From Hildegard of Bingen to modern experiments helping the blind to "see" through touch, Classen paints a fascinating tryptic of the cosmology, gender, and aesthetics of the senses.
"The Color of Angels" uncovers the rich sensory symbolism of the past, showing how it lingers on in modern perceptions. It describes a historical hierarchy of the senses in which the politics of gender influence the social construction of sensory meaning in different periods and domains. According to this system, the male gaze penetrates while the scent of a women permeates; masculine scholarship is contrasted with the tactility of feminine home-making. Yet even though art has often reinforced these categories, it also retains the capacity to challenge them. Symbolists and Surrealists bridge the gap between the senses, creating sweet colors and fragrant songs.
Despite the gendered history of the senses, Classen concludes that the experiences of those marginalized by society--including women and the blind--can form the basis for developing a new, more vital sensory aesthetics.

Industry Reviews

"Classen's achievement is impressive...." -"American Historical Review "[A] fresh contribution to the literature on gender and the body in religion." -"Religious Studies Review "The common thread that ties these subjects [cosmology, gender, and aesthetics] together is Classen's excellent historical overview of sensory symbolism....Classen provides a rich and evocative volume." -L. A. Dawe, "Social & Behavioral Sciences "With the blend of erudition and elegance we have now come to expect, Constance Classen's "The Color of Angels does much to restore the history of the senses to its proper importance." -Roy Porter, Wellcome Institute "It is a solid and imaginative contribution to both the history of the senses as well as to feminist scholarship from the middles ages up to the rise of modernism." -Sander L. Gilman, University of Chicago

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