On The Magic Mountain: The novel as liminal affective technology

Stenner, Paul and Greco, Monica (2018). On The Magic Mountain: The novel as liminal affective technology. International Political Anthropology, 11(1)

Abstract

In this paper we build on Szakolczai’s analysis of the sociological relevance of the novel to propose that novels can be regarded as a historically specific instance of what we call ‘liminal affective technologies’. We develop this proposition through a psychosocial reading of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, to demonstrate that this novel not only represents – as Szakolczai already argues – the reflexive culmination of a historical movement towards permanent liminality, but also a performative meditation on the role of ‘liminal affective technologies’ in metabolising experience and channelling psychosocial transformations.

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