토니 모리슨의 소설에 나타난 해학의 심미적 감성 읽기

Cultivating Aesthetic Sensitivity and the Tragicomic Affect in Toni Morrison’s Novels

This paper explores the affective dimensions of literature through Toni Morrison’s use of humor and the vernacular tradition, situating her work within the cultural history of Black tragicomic expression. Engaging with the recent affective turn in literary studies, it draws on the theories of Rita Felski, Lauren Berlant, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, who emphasize the centrality of feelings, emotions, and embodied affect in literary experience. However, following Tyrone Palmer’s critique, the paper foregrounds how theories of emotion often fail to address the historical and epistemological construction of anti-Blackness within Western paradigms of thought. Morrison’s fiction, this paper argues, subverts these paradigms by rewriting history through Black humor and the tragicomic mode, elements central to the vernacular tradition. Tracing the lineage of this tragicomic affect in the works of Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Ralph Ellison, the analysis highlights Morrison’s innovation in deploying humor as a tool of survival, resistance, and community-building. This theoretical framework culminates in a reading of a scene from Song of Solomon that exemplifies how humor, as a communal and affective act, bridges the gaps between trauma, resilience, and liberation. By attending to the socio-historical resonance of the tragicomic, this paper underscores the pedagogical potential of Morrison’s work in cultivating emotional intelligence and fostering aesthetic sensitivity.