Trauma And Affect - Misunderstanding Pain in Art and Culture

Trauma and Affect in Contemporary Art and Culture explores the critical concepts of trauma and affect through visual art, literature, and cultural theory. Ernst van Alphen examines how trauma originates in the past yet reappears in the present, while exploring how affect can be transformed from immediate emotional responses into critical artistic and intellectual practices. Drawing on art criticism, literary studies, queer studies, feminism, postcolonial studies, sociology, and other disciplines, the book offers a fresh perspective on two influential yet often overused concepts in contemporary culture.