Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology
-
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
Abstract
How can formal Sanskrit dramaturgical theory’s claim that the dominant aesthetic essence (rasa) of a literary work must be unmixed with another be reconciled with the evident complexity of emotions (bhāvas) that such works strive to convey? In the 10th-century text The Ten Dramatic Forms by Dhanamjaya and Observations on it by Dhanika the issue of how conflicting emotions can be conveyed and understood aesthetically is directly tackled. Drawing on the complex typology of emotions they inherit through the tradition, Dhanamjaya and Dhanika seek to demonstrate that a mix of emotions in a single scenario (romantic attraction and heroic resolve, or attraction and spiritual calmness; or attraction and revulsion) do not conflict with each other, but can be explained through various analytic relationships between states and types of emotions. I present these moves and suggest that they provide us with some interesting ideas for a philosophical anthropology of conflicting emotions.
Abstract
How can formal Sanskrit dramaturgical theory’s claim that the dominant aesthetic essence (rasa) of a literary work must be unmixed with another be reconciled with the evident complexity of emotions (bhāvas) that such works strive to convey? In the 10th-century text The Ten Dramatic Forms by Dhanamjaya and Observations on it by Dhanika the issue of how conflicting emotions can be conveyed and understood aesthetically is directly tackled. Drawing on the complex typology of emotions they inherit through the tradition, Dhanamjaya and Dhanika seek to demonstrate that a mix of emotions in a single scenario (romantic attraction and heroic resolve, or attraction and spiritual calmness; or attraction and revulsion) do not conflict with each other, but can be explained through various analytic relationships between states and types of emotions. I present these moves and suggest that they provide us with some interesting ideas for a philosophical anthropology of conflicting emotions.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
