Emotions as a Feminist Discourse: Female Writerly Consciousness and Affective Narrative Philosophy in Twilight and Midnight Sun

Abstract

The article repositions the novels Twilight and Midnight Sun as culturally significant body works that foreground the self as a place of feminist practice and affect as a horizon for feminist thought. The chief argument of the research draws from the contemporary social theory of feminism and affect, such that the author engages the audience with the idea that Stephenie Meyer’s works embody a "plan of affect"; that her narrative produces affective spaces in which readers can engage emotionally with and across the text; and that the affective qualities of the text, in turn, refigure and reposition feminism in the mind of the reader. "The reader understands how the novels promote the significance of emotions and affect in desires and agency, as opposed to the traditional rationalist literary criticisms that disregarded emotions and feelings, particularly those of women. The text, therefore, offers a comparative reading of Twilight and Midnight Sun by examining how the shift from Bella’s to Edward’s perspective in the latter refigures the practice of masculinity in relation to anxiety, control, and excess.