A kind pessimist
June 29, 2021 8:08 AM   Subscribe

Some readers of this site may also be readers of Lauren Berlant, whose diagnosis of American life (but not just American) was deep, sympathetic, and challenging. You can get to know Lauren's work better through the summary of Cruel Optimism (Duke University Press), the book that to my mind is the best place to start, and a selection of their articles in Critical Inquiry.
posted by homerica (9 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
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Lauren Berlant, a profoundly influential American scholar and cultural critic known for their rigorous and playful explorations of intimacy, citizenship, and affect, died June 28 at the age of sixty-three from cancer. The news was announced by Duke University Press. Since 1984 the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor of English at the University of Chicago, Berlant wrote widely on the topic of human belonging in the world, which they saw as molded by affect and emotion rather than by rational thought, and in their hugely influential Cruel Optimism (2011) harnessed affect theory to neoliberalism, anticipating the rise of the social-media-driven politics that would shape the following decade. (Artforum)

Lauren Berlant, preeminent literary scholar and cultural theorist, 1957–2021 (UChicago News)

Affect Theory and the New Age of Anxiety (The New Yorker, March 18, 2019) How Lauren Berlant’s cultural criticism predicted the Trumping of politics.
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:35 AM on June 29, 2021 [5 favorites]


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posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 10:08 AM on June 29, 2021


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posted by praemunire at 11:25 AM on June 29, 2021


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posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:33 AM on June 29, 2021


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posted by mustard seeds at 2:00 PM on June 29, 2021


Thanks for posting this-- I hadn't heard of this author and I'm looking forward to digging in more.

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posted by travertina at 4:02 PM on June 29, 2021


A tremendous loss. I recommend people pick up their book 'Cruel Optimism'—most appropriate for the ages.
From their colleague WJT Mitchell: Remembering Lauren on 28 June 2021
Berlant connected with and affected countless people, as the stream of tributes on twitter attest.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 4:47 PM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]


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posted by col_pogo at 7:12 PM on June 29, 2021


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posted by wicked_sassy at 9:25 AM on June 30, 2021


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