![]() Here, we might say, was Berlant’s theory of the 'intimate public sphere' - a version of love - in practice. "What I loved about Berlant’s work was how, amid the fraying of national fantasies like upward mobility, meritocracy, job security and equality, Berlant made it clear that feelings we assume are solely private - depression, bitterness, resentment - are anything but. It is a wild, deeply witty examination of our attachments to food, love, politics, family, and pop culture.” - Kate Clinton, Progressive “If you are looking for some new language to use to describe the current crisis of hope, read Cruel Optimism. Cruel Optimism does precisely what Berlant’s work always does - it changes the conversation in such a way that it makes you wonder why we weren’t talking about these things all along.” - Anna E. “ Cruel Optimism is a must read for any scholar interested in exploring the affective dimensions of precarity. “This is Berlant at her most revolutionarily queer, questioning what would happen if we stopped thinking of ourselves in terms of identity categories, and instead reorganized our sense of self around the specific objects and ideas to which we are attached and the affects that they produce in us.” - Chase Dimock, Lambda Literary Review An affective portrait of the 99%.” - Caitlin Hu, Bitch Cruel Optimism is less brutal analysis than a dark, lush still-life of American fantasies and our Quixotic lunges toward them. And yes, within a few pages, there’s that creeping sensation that, whatever makes you tick, it’s got you on the fast track to ruin and disappointment. ![]() Yes, the University of Chicago professor will break down everything you hold dear: food, love, politics, family, virtuous New Year’s resolutions. OK, yes, her latest book is called Cruel Optimism. “Lauren Berlant is not shitting on you or your dream. ![]() “One of the most rewarding aspects of Berlant’s work and of Cruel Optimism in particular is the sheer transformative force within the field of the political that the analysis of chosen texts offers.Berlant is required reading that should somehow help ‘activist theorists and artists back to the question of what kind of form a gesture is, what kind of imminent expressivity it holds, and what kind of affective pedagogy might be effected by it’ (261) in the work of ‘having a life’ make sense.” - Alex Lockwood, Culture Machine Cruel Optimism is a remarkable affective history of the present. She suggests that our stretched-out present is characterized by new modes of temporality, and she explains why trauma theory-with its focus on reactions to the exceptional event that shatters the ordinary-is not useful for understanding the ways that people adjust over time, once crisis itself has become ordinary. People have remained attached to unachievable fantasies of the good life-with its promises of upward mobility, job security, political and social equality, and durable intimacy-despite evidence that liberal-capitalist societies can no longer be counted on to provide opportunities for individuals to make their lives “add up to something.”Īrguing that the historical present is perceived affectively before it is understood in any other way, Berlant traces affective and aesthetic responses to the dramas of adjustment that unfold amid talk of precarity, contingency, and crisis. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted. Labor and Working-Class History AssociationĪ relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing.Association for Middle East Women's Studies.Author Resources from University Presses.Permissions Information for Journal Authors.Journals fulfilled by DUP Journal Services.( philosophy ) Of or relating to cognition or knowledge, its scope, or how it is acquired.Ἐπιστήμη ( Epistḗmē ) is derived from ἐπῐ́στᾰμαι ( epístamai, “ to have knowledge of, know ” ) (from ἐπῐ- ( epi-, prefix meaning ‘all over on, on top of’ ) + ῐ̔́στημῐ ( hístēmi, “ to stand to weigh ” ) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- ( “ to stand (up) ” ))) + -η ( -ē, suffix forming action nouns ). WOTD – 14 June 2023 Etymology PIE wordįrom Ancient Greek ἐπιστήμη ( epistḗmē, “ knowledge science ” ) + English -ic ( suffix meaning of or pertaining to forming adjectives from nouns ) (compare modern Greek επιστημικός ( epistimikós, “ relating to science, scientific ” )).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |