sense of smell

Lucia Turin and Saskia Wilson-Brown

What, exactly, is fragrance? How might we discuss and theorize the sense of smell? Luca Turin and Saskia Wilson-Brown confront these surprisingly thorny questions and argue that fragrance is an autonomous art which must be dealt with on its own terms, a message in a bottle. As Igor Stravinsky said of music, fragrance may be "by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all".