Affect Theory, Genre, and the Example of Tragedy

Affect Theory, Genre, and the Example of Tragedy employs Silvan Tomkins' Affect-Script theory of human psychology to explore the largely unacknowledged emotions of disgust and shame in tragedy. The book begins with an overview of Tomkins' relationship to both traditional psychoanalysis and theories of human motivation and emotion, before considering tragedy via case studies of Oedipus, Hamlet, and Death of a Salesman. Aligning Affect-Script theory with literary genre studies, this text explores what motivates fictional characters within the closed conditions of their imagined worlds and how we as an audience relate to and understand fictional characters as motivated humans.

Auteur

Duncan A. Lucas is Professor of Communications in the Department of Liberal Studies at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Texte du rabat

Affect Theory, Genre, and the Example of Tragedy employs Silvan Tomkins' Affect-Script theory of human psychology to explore the largely unacknowledged emotions of disgust and shame in tragedy. The book begins with an overview of Tomkins' relationship to both traditional psychoanalysis and theories of human motivation and emotion, before considering tragedy via case studies of Oedipus, Hamlet, and Death of a Salesman. Aligning Affect-Script theory with literary genre studies, this text explores what motivates fictional characters within the closed conditions of their imagined worlds and how we as an audience relate to and understand fictional characters as motivated humans.

Contenu

Part One: Theory

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Tomkins and Literature: A Hermeneutical Model

Chapter Three: Tragedy and the Trope of Disgust

Part Two: Application

Chapter Four: Case Study One: Sophocles' Oedipus

Chapter Five: Case Study Two: Shakespeare's Hamlet

Chapter Six: Case Study Three: Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Chapter Seven: Conclusion: Dreams We Learn