Kristevan Affect in Connie Willis' Passage

Studying affect in works of fiction can shed light on aspects which may remain hidden otherwise. Julia Kristeva is one theorist demonstrating the semiotic in language through scrutinizing affect in literary texts. This paper is an attempt to explore the semiotic dimensions of affect in Connie Willis's neglected novel, Passage. . This novel is categorized under the NDE genre, which is the genre of literature concerned with near-death experiences. In this novel, disastrous and traumatic events, related to the experience of death by various characters, especially the protagonist, Joanna Lander, produce fearful moments. These can be captured through the type of genre of the text, silences and pauses, different sorts of deprivation in characters, and the features of poetic language in the text itself. In such situations, the readers' identification with the characters contributes to the affective aspect of the text. A close reading of the semiotic aspect of this novel, utilizing the theories of Kristeva, demonstrates how characters' death drive can put them in disastrous situations, contrary to those with jouissance. It also depicts how traumatic events can become more tolerable in human beings' social life by the help of identification, reconciliation, social collectiveness, camaraderie, and emotional bond between characters, despite the casualties.