Affect and narratology
pp. 235-257
in: Thomas Blake (ed), The Palgrave handbook of affect studies and textual criticism, Berlin, Springer, 2017Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the different ways in which the category of affect has been used in narratological discourses and contextualizes these uses in relation to the broader contemporary field of affect studies. This overview uncovers a conceptual rift along with missed opportunities. While Deleuzian work in particular in affect theory and studies remains anti-narrative, current (dominantly cognitive) narratological work on emotion does not do justice to the conceptual promises of Deleuzian approaches to affect. In response to this situation, the later part of the chapter outlines a suggestion for a syncretic conceptualization, which combines impulses from Deleuzian, cognitive, and phenomenological approaches into a layered notion of affective narrative worldmaking assemblages.