The Crane Wife and ASMR

[kaberett]

Here is an article in the Paris Review: The Crane Wife. I found most of it luminous and compelling, in ways that made my whole body feel more alive, and then the concluding paragraphs -- about connection and autonomy and agency -- somehow left me unsatisfied.

But it reminds me: the sensation it gave me, that I think is what is now described as ASMR (passim), is something that throughout childhood I described at least sometimes as "a goose walk[ed/ing] over my grave". It was the best approximation I had; I'm not sure whether that usage is typical, or more widespread, or wildly unusual, but I remain curious about ways we have of talking about this thing.

Comments

[jedusor]

I have no idea what that sensation feels like. I tried ASMR, it annoyed the crap out of me and I felt no tingling. Someone in the comments mentioned the egg-breaking game, which never did anything for me as a kid either. Maybe I just don't experience this thing, whatever it is.

[kaberett]

I find the idea of absolutely all the videos that are apparently A Thing intensely off-putting, but tingling-spreading-over-my-scalp-and-the-backs-of-my-limbs-in-response-to-abstract-stimuli is definitely a thing I get, so I'm gently fascinated by all the people talking about it!