Tickling not only has history, it makes history. But, above all, it makes stories. Being tickled is a strange phenomenon. As a mixed sensation, it produces delight and pain simultaneously. As a touch, tickling is so fleeting that it leaves no trace behind. No wonder, then, that it hasn’t been studied up till now. In his brilliant study, Christian Metz, however, shows that tickling has played a very important role: from Aristotle via Plato to Descartes, from Grimmelshausen to Jean Paul, and from Hegel to Darwin and Nietzsche, it has had a significant life in the field of culture. Metz methodically traces tickling, tracking down its narratives through the centuries, and gives a fascinating insight into its anthropological, philosophical, art-historical and – as narrated tickle – literary influence. Tickling, so much is clear, will have to be fully re-evaluated in light of this study.
