The Affective Fallacy

The Affective Fallacy is a concept in literary criticism that warns against judging a work solely based on how it makes you feel. It suggests that personal emotional reactions are unreliable measures of a piece's true meaning or artistic value because feelings can be influenced by individual mood, experience, or context. Instead, critics should analyze the work itself—its language, structure, and themes—independent of emotional response. This helps ensure that interpretations are based on the work's intrinsic qualities rather than subjective feelings, promoting a more objective understanding of literature.