Affect and communication: on the constructions of fear

Abstract

The paper discusses a concept which is present in recent studies in the fields of Communication and Culture: affect. It refers to the Deleuzean concepts of affect, and discusses questions of language concerning affects. From those philosophical basis and discussions, complex affects – named as “fear” – are examined, by means of a close reading of Franz Kafka’s short story “Der Bau/The Construction” (1923). This fictional text articulates notions such as fear, insecurity and risk to the need for constructing houses and habitats. This theme is related to a Nietzschean essay in which the philosopher evaluates different types of constructions and relates them to vital pulsions. Following Nietzsche, two constructions are used as inspirations to the theoretical work: scaffold and toy.