In the spring questionnaire I was very drawn to affects surrounding belonging/not belonging. Ideas that were circulating for me were surrounding paranoia and fear, specifically deriving from isolation, and conversely, I was interested in non-normative senses of belonging. A text that I find myself returning to time and time again is Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I am interested in exploring how the affects of paranoia and fear are experienced in the novel. Do the sisters eventually create their own sense of belonging at the end of the novel? How are paranoia and anxiety experienced in the novel and for the reader? Theoretically, I would turn to affect studies to answer these questions. Especially the work of Sianne Ngai on paranoia and fear as well as Sarah Ahmed's work on communal affects and circulatory affects.
This text is also uniquely situated as a product of the Cold War and the emergence of a contemporary American Gothic. Born and raised around Bennington in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, I have always been particularly interested in how it feels to be home. Rural communities experience deeper isolation than suburban or urban locations; I'm interested in situating this text both within the historical and geographical contexts. Here I would draw upon the literary tradition of gothic and horror to understand how these texts provoke fear and interact with the reader. Again, I would turn to affect theorists to answer these questions as well as turning towards secondary sources discussing the historical moment and sources exploring the American Gothic.