Something Moves: Affect in Saidiya Hartman’s Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments and Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez’ Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

Abstract

Bridging the theoretical with the personal, autotheory is by nature a genre that exists between categories. This paper argues that it is this very in-between-ness of autotheory which enables an expression and circulation of affect. My analysis of Saidiya Hartman’s Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments and Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez’ Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts showcases how the artistic expression of theoretical thought enabled by works of autotheory is particularly successful at making the personal stories that are being portrayed palpable. To make this case, the article first discusses theories of affect studies, autotheory and comic studies and brings them into conversation with each other. Afterwards, the results of this theoretical discussion are employed to analyze the role of affect in Wake and Wayward Lives.