What textures do you associate each planet with? For example, do you think of Jupiter as velvet, Pluto as spiky?
'I smelled the planet Mars, an iron smell, and the planet Venus, a green ivy smell, and the planet Mercury, a scent of sulphur and fire, and I could smell the milky moon and the hardness of the stars'.
Ray Bradbury, The Rocket Man, 1951
Ray Bradbury, The Rocket Man, 1951
There is a bit of synaesthesia going on with this - smell and texture and colour representing each other.
This thread was inspired by my hand-written notes on a syllabus for a course I taught a few years ago. I wrote 'What does it mean when we map 'natural' objects as 'cultural objects'?
When I ask about texture, I have in my head the idea that we can rub the surface of the planet with giant, bare hands.
One of the most evocative descriptions of synaesthesia I've read is from Alfred Bester's classic novel Tiger! Tiger! (The Stars My Destination). Worth a read for that and all the other things!
Here's a quote from Tiger Tiger: 'The cold was the taste of lemons and the vacuum a rake of talons on his skin. The sun and the stars were a shaking ague that racked his bones'.
I love everyone's responses to my question about planet textures - such a rich, sensual range of associations - thank you for sharing them!
According to @boringhstrygirl, Jupiter is glass!
