Exercises in Sensation: Theory and Practice

20.5 x14 cm, 158 Pages, Huacheng Publishing House, 1998, ISBN 7-5360-2764-8

Exercises in Sensation: Theory and Practice utilises a structure akin to a textbook to present
exercises for reader to “heighten one's senses”. This training course in sensitivity is compiled and edited under the moniker of Professor Wu Yuwen. It incorporates ideas and discourse from various philosophers (Foucault, Marx, Bergson, Lucretius), biologists, scientists, authors (Calvino, Nabokov, Proust), artists (Duchamp, Tony Oursler) and an anonymous meteorologist. It also includes “reference diagrams” from numerous sources, thus enabling the final coursework to be a miniature “handbook of knowledge” in the field of feeling.

This is a novel replete with satire and bad intentions: it uses the excuse of training in sensation to brutally demonstrate the power of the media in totally transforming how our senses react to the world. It offers a cynical yet humorous response to the question as to whether sensory happiness equates to happiness for humanity.