(in the Fervid, Florid; with the attempt not to allude but elucidate)

I am a sensationalist, in all meanings of the word: I make my sensations into ideas, and I reduce my ideas to sensations, so that thought and feeling are simultaneous. My treatment of art works is a kind of electrocution therapy, applying a live wire (that is, me) to make them jump and light up with a neon glare. "Luridness" is for me [...] a complimentary term.

Camille Paglia
(to whom I also owe paraphrase-thanks for the title)