Prologue

1. The Contact Zone of Civilizations: Only Others Smell

Helen Keller's Gift: Joseon's Smellscape
The scent of spring in Joseon, violets
Stench: A Sense of Coexistence and Anxiety
“The problem of smell is entirely education-based!”
The Smell of Religion and Hygiene: From Frankincense and Myrrh to Water and Soap

2 Perfume, the Formation of Modern Taste

The barometer of modernity, the indicator of individuality
The seat of French perfume
An extension of the body, perfume sprayed on handkerchiefs and handwritten letters
A sign of decadence and debauchery, the bed perfume of Madame Free.

3 Writer's Nose

Lee Hyo-seok, fragrance collector
Baek Seok, the poet who collected the scent of hometown
A mischievous nose beyond modern boy
The side effects of the strict moral gentleman's theft and self-inflicted wounds
Can Dr. K really get rid of the 'shit smell'?
Yeom Sang-seop's nose crossing colonial Joseon

4 The smell of the city

The smell of Seoul, the smell of home, the smell of crossing the line
1960, the scent of first love's soap
Mother, remain as a smell

5 The Smell of the Future: Sense Changes Predicted by Science Fiction

The era of “odorophonics” is upon us.
Are you ready to meet another sense of being?
What if the 'smell' disappeared?

epilogue

Acknowledgements
main
References

written in letters
Stories of lost smells, unfamiliar smells, and familiar smells

‘Writing’ is the only archive that shows ‘what the sense of smell is to humans.’
Over the past seven years, I have been searching for the origins and traces of smells that have disappeared, unfamiliar smells, and familiar smells.
Through this, I wanted to talk about the meaning of smell, which has played a role in connecting or disconnecting time, space, and existence during the process of modernization, and in complementing or subverting visuality.
Modern literature and the media were a treasure trove of relevant material.
Interesting scenes that detect the scent of change called modernization can be found in novels, poetry, essays, daily newspaper articles, and advertisements.


This book primarily covers records from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, which were the introduction of change, but also covers some recent science fiction genres, such as the period after liberation when urbanization accelerated and sensibilities changed rapidly.
Although smells sometimes appeared in actual experiences or in rhetorical meanings, they were often difficult to separate, and since this is the essence of smell, we examined them together.
Smell and story have in common that they connect the present between 'past and future', and us between 'presence and absence'.
The 'story' that mediates the memories of the past and the imagination of the future is thus connected to the smell, which is a trace of existence.

Furthermore, this book chose the neutral word “smell” instead of “fragrance” and “odor” to comprehensively capture its complex nature in each aspect of our lives.
Smell mediates between past and present, space and people, here and there, things and us, me and you.
Smells allow them to be remembered in specific relationships and contexts.
The olfactory language recorded during the modernization process provided a different background from the visual language that was suitable for revealing the speed and direction of modernization, its grandeur and violence.
Olfactory language was also a shy informant, silently pointing out truths that were different from what was seen or invisible.