Comparing Emotions: Literary and Cultural Dynamics

Abstract

As Ruth Leys (2011) has noted, many of the conceptual conundrums surrounding, for instance, the distinction between emotion and affect are grounded in considering the latter as belonging to the pre-linguistic and autonomic realms and the former to the linguistic one. Within literary studies, narratology has taken up parts of this debate and has contributed to transcultural and transhistorical approaches to the study of the forms and structures through which emotions circulate beyond the verbal arts (cf. Hogan 2011). By envisioning an issue dedicated to the study of emotions as players in literary and cultural dynamics, our aim was not to solely focus on how literary scholars draw from psychology or cognitive science, but also to explore how literary works and non-fictional narratives address and represent issues related to emotions in aesthetic ways. In this respect, the issue positions literary and comparative studies as loci of research and reflection about emotions and thus as a field able to make original contributions to the affective turn. The articles gathered here showcase the varied approaches available to tackle the study of emotions in literature and non-fictional narratives, and its case studies encompass a wide range of periods, from the early modern age to contemporaneity.