On the Forest Affect in the Theory of Affective Ecocriticism

Forest affect refers to a pre-individual, embodied, and fluid intensity or flow of force that is triggered, transmitted, and transformed in a forest environment through the interaction of material elements, spatial structures, and biological symbols in the forest. Based on the emotional universality of affect and the theory of affect as spatial atmosphere, and in the perspective of arboreal ecocriticism that attributes subjectivity, materiality, and interactivity to trees, forest affect gains theoretical vitality in the process of constructing relationships between emotion, body, and environment through affective ecological criticism. This paper systematically discusses the generative basis, characteristics, ecological theoretical value, and practical significance of forest affect, pointing out that forests have materiality and subjectivity and form their own affect-material field. Forest affect possesses the characteristics of embodied materiality, intensity liquidity, and transindividuality. Forest affect updates the driving force for forest protection from unilateral rational calculation to a deeper, pre-reflective affective resonance, promoting the construction of an affective network of symbiotic entanglement between humans and forests.