Toward an Affective Problematics: A Deleuze-Guattarian Reading of Morality and Friendship in Toni Morrison’s Sula

Authors

  • Naeem Nedaee Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. University of Tehran
  • Ali Salami Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. University of Tehran

Abstract

It might sound rather convincing to assume that we owe the pleasure of reading the novel form to our elemental repository of physical perception, to our feelings. This would be true only if mere feelings could add up to something more than just emotions, to some deep understanding of the human. After all, a moment of epiphany, where we begin to realize things that dramatically disturb our normal state of mind, is not just emotional, nor indeed a simple moment. Despite its root in the corporeal, a mo(ve)ment of affective realization reaches beyond the realm of the human and opens up the plane of virtual potentials. In this work, we intend to map out the points and relations of affective singularity that pervade the narrative of Toni Morrison’s Sula (1973). Also, we will discuss how these mo(ve)ments of sensation give form to Sula’s and Nel’s experiences and contribute to an affective transformation in morality and friendship.


Keywords: Gilles Deleuze; Felix Guattari; Toni Morrison; Sula; affect; emotion

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Author Biographies

Naeem Nedaee, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. University of Tehran

Naeem Nedaee is a literary scholar with a Master of Arts focused in English literature from the University of Tehran. Nedaee is interested in poststructuralist theories and cultural studies across a variety of western literatures and cinemas.

Ali Salami, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. University of Tehran

Ali Salami is a literary scholar and professor of English literature at the University of Tehran. An internationally published author, Salami has written extensively on gender and discourse, Shakespeare and postcolonial literature.

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Published

2017-06-23

How to Cite

Nedaee, N., & Salami, A. (2017). Toward an Affective Problematics: A Deleuze-Guattarian Reading of Morality and Friendship in Toni Morrison’s Sula. Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies, 39(1), 113–131. Retrieved from https://atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/265

Issue

2017: Vol. 39, Num. 1

Section

Articles

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