0

As a non-native English speaker, I am having a hard time understanding what the author means by sensorily austere here. The quote is taken from Man in the landscape, by Paul Shepard.

The desert is the environment of revelation, genetically and physiologically alien, sensorily austere, esthetically abstract, historically inimical. [...]

I haven't found a dictionary that lists this word, but possible variations such as sensory.

Could anyone give me an easily understandable definition for that context?

(Is this perhaps an old-English word?)

Improve this question
1

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

It seems to me that he means to say that there was not much there for the senses to "pickup". As in "there's not much to look at in a desert."

Improve this answer
1

"Sensorily rich" would mean rich with sensory experience or information: a lot of visual (see), tactile (feel, touch), auditory (hear), olfactory (smell), and gustatory (taste) input. "Sensorily austere" means a lack of this sensory input.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .