Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was a renowned British novelist, philosopher, and fiction theorist of the late 20th century, widely acknowledged as one of the most prolific and influential figures in English literature post-World War II. The Black Prince(1973) has been considered by many critics to be the best of Murdoch’s novel, which won the most prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Based on affect theory, this paper makes an in-depth analysis of The Black Prince. Through the emotional entanglements between Bradley Pearson and other characters, the novel shows how affects affect individual moral judgment, behavior choice and self-cognition, aiming to reveal the important role of affect in individual moral growth. This paper not only provides a new perspective for understanding the Black Prince, but also provides a case for the application of affect theory in the analysis of literary works.

Cailing Xiang. A Study of The Black Prince from Affect Theory. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2024) Vol. 7, Issue 7: 30-34. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2024.070705.

[1] An Ning, Yuan Guangtao. Analysis of Iris Murdoch’s Female Consciousness with the Black Prince as an example [J]. Contemporary Foreign Language Research,2011,(10):47-52 61.

[2] Ann Brooks,Ruth Simpson. The Significance of Emotions in Contemporary Social Theorizing in Emotions in Transmigration[M]. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

[3] Ali Lara. Affect and Subjectivity[J]. Subjectivity, April 2017, Volume 10, Issue 1.

[4] Claire Colebrook . Deleuze and the Meaning of Life[M]. Continuum, 2011.

[5] García-Avello. Re-Examining Gender Matters in Iris Murdoch’s The Black Prince[J].Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction,2019,60(5):551-562.

[6] Ge Yue. Deleuze's Theory of Emotion and Generative Literature [J]. Studies in Literature and Art Theory, 2021,41(04):109-116.

[7] Hu Keqing. On Eros, Cognition and Art in The Black Prince [J]. Contemporary Foreign Language Studies, 2012,(02):58-62.

[8] Iris Murdoch. The Black Prince [M]. London: Random House UK, 2013.

[9] Liu Qianyue. Pedigree of Affect Theory [J]. Studies in Literature and Art Theory, 2018, 38(06): 203-211.

[10] Massumi, Brian. “Foreword.” In A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, edited by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, translated by Brian Massumi, U of Minnesota P, 1987.

[11] Melissa Gregg, Gregory J.Seigworth, eds. The Affect Theory Reader[M].Durham, NC:Duke University Press, 2010

[12] Patricia Ticineto Clough. The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social[M].Durham:Duke University Press, 2007.

[13] Telegina I N, Butsyak O T .The Peculiarities of Iris Murdoch’s artistic method (based on her novel The Black Prince[J].Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, 2016, 3(4): 90-94.

[14] Wang Taohua, Ge Jiamei. Accidental or Inevitable: A spatial interpretation of the causes of the tragedy of the Black Prince[J]. Journal of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 2024, 35 (02):151-160.

[15] Wang Taohua, Cheng Tongxin. On female consciousness and Marriage View in Black Prince [J]. Journal of Changchun University,2019,29(09):74-79.

[16] Xu Mingying, Wang Shuang, Zhang Shuwei. The Other and the Self: A study of The Black Prince from the perspective of feminist Caring ethics [J]. Jiangsu Foreign Language Teaching Research, 2016, (04):32-34.