ABSTRACT
This chapter will identify some vital ways in which fictional texts contribute to our understanding of the representation of emotions in and across history, and will explore the methodological challenges involved in understanding these sources as both fictional and historical. Using texts ranging from late medieval poetry to contemporary cinema, it will address two methodological issues: how to analyse how depictions of emotion in fictional texts reflect their historical context of production; and how, conversely, we might argue for fictional texts as evidence of emotional continuity across history. The chapter will draw on Derek Attridge’s concept of ‘idioculture’ to discuss how identifying emotions in literature requires us to consider the complex historical-aesthetic negotiations between fictional texts and their later readers.
