The long period of "enlightenment" that extended from the rise of organised science to the emergence of Gilbert and Sullivan operas lauded reason and commended reflection but depended on sensation. A remarkably broad range of intellectual and cultural activity, whether the critical philosophy of John Locke or the rapturous poetry of John Keats, genuflected to the tame abstraction "experience" but gave full credit to raw sense for the sustaining of art, writing, and thought.

Universally invoked as everything from evidence to inspiration, "sensation" became the watchword of modernisation. The Sensational Centuries offers a portfolio of essays on the twists, turns, and metamorphoses of the idea and theme of "sensation" during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, paying special attention to the evolution of sensationalism as an artistic and philosophical movement and examining the many curious and revealing cultural productions resulting from this intense interest in the varieties of sense.

Three generous sections include essays examining the literary and artistic genres arising from the cult of sense; the exploration of venues in which extreme, unusual, or offbeat sensations could occur; and the actions that result from the pursuit of sensational experience and the cultivation of a sensationalist art. The volume thus shows how the conversation about sensationalism continued loudly and volubly across diverse traditions and without regard for confining literary, cultural, religious, and artistic traditions-thereby defining an era.

Contributions by: Robert C. Leitz III