Monday, May 21, 2007

I fear that the question i have been trying to phrase--and also the question that has prevented me from quote doing what i really need to do is that of expression, and expressibility, expressiveness and all of the questions of what to do with one's own tendency towards nostalgic sentiments. And not only sentiments of nostalgia, but sentiments in general. Affect. But what that is is as enigmatic to me as certain other highly unspecified and yet robust things. Several weeks ago when going over notes that I made from reading Deleuze's book on Spinoza, I noted that it seemed that the formulation was something like affect is the turning from passivity into activity; this play and movement that is not unidirectional. But this seems to me to be my question as I write this blog that at times strikes me as being nostalgic and dripping with sentimentality. i also feel i drip nostalgia and am sentimental.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

where does the conflict with sentimentality lay? is it conceived of as a filter that hinders expression? is it seen as negative? is it fragile, intimate and thus is not allowed to leave the private realm? what is sentimentality?
love,
a.

Erin Trapp said...

i also wonder. i thought i came to something more recently--something about the relation between sentimentality and affective thought, or the sad passions.