The English Miscellany

“Why are so many scholars today in the humanities and social sciences fascinated by the idea of affect?” (Ruth Leys 435) “No one has yet determined what the body can do.” (Spinoza) “first encounters with theories of affect might feel like a momentary (sometimes permanent) methodological and conceptual free fall.” (Gregg and Seigworth, 4) 1. Key Terms Affect should not be confused with a personal sentiment or feeling. Affects are encounters between bodies, material objects, and mental or ideal bodies. Moreover, the study of affect crosses over into perceptions of the environment, which is composed of sensory information. Yet affect often appears to be unconscious and non-ideological, which represents a challenge to intellectual and rationalist approaches to phenomena. The interest in affect could be understood as an appeal to a new materialism that explores embodiment of sensations. Ruth Leys (434) has argued that a common distinction between affect and emotio