Lauren Berlant (1957–2021)

Author of Cruel Optimism

20+ Works 938 Members 3 Reviews

About the Author

Lauren Berlant is George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, coauthor of The Hundreds, and author of Cruel Optimism, both also published by Duke University Press.

Includes the name: Lauren Berlant

Image credit: Photo courtesy the University of Chicago Experts Exchange (link)

Works by Lauren Berlant

Popular Recent

Cruel Optimism (2011) 355 copies, 2 reviews

The Queen of America Goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and Citizenship (1997) 152 copies

The Female Complaint: The Unfinished Business of Sentimentality in American Culture (2008) 93 copies, 1 review

Sex, or the Unbearable (2013) 68 copies

The Hundreds (2019) 56 copies

Intimacy (2000) 48 copies

Desire/Love (2012) 38 copies

On the Inconvenience of Other People (Writing Matters!) (2022) 37 copies

Compassion: The Culture and Politics of an Emotion (Essays from the English Institute) (2004) 29 copies

The Anatomy of National Fantasy: Hawthorne, Utopia, and Everyday Life (1991) 24 copies

Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the National Interest (Sexual Cultures) (2001) 21 copies

Reading Sedgwick (Theory Q) (2019) 9 copies

"'68 or the Revolution of Little Queers" 1 copy

Critical Inquiry (Intimacy, 24:2 Winter) 1 copy

The Affect Theory Reader 1 copy

What does queer theory teach us about X? In PMLA 110 (1) 1 copy

Sex in Public. In Critical Inquiry 24(2) Intimacy 1 copy

Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant(1996-01-19) (2011) 1 copy

Compassion: The Culture and Politics of an Emotion (Essays from the English Institute) (2014) 1 copy

El corazón de la nación. Ensayos sobre política y sentimentalismo (Spanish Edition) (2011) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Blithedale Romance [Norton Critical Edition, 2nd ed.] (2010) — Contributor — 55 copies, 2 reviews

Tagged

21st century (9) affect (12) affect theory (23) American Studies (8) Berlant (8) citizenship (10) critical theory (17) criticism (7) cultural criticism (7) cultural studies (33) culture (5) essays (12) feminism (16) feminist theory (13) gay (7) gender (12) gender and sexuality (6) gender studies (12) history (8) literary criticism (14) literary history and criticism (5) literary studies (4) literary theory (19) literature (7) non-fiction (22) philosophy (11) political theory (17) politics (19) psychology (6) queer (12) queer studies (12) queer theory (22) race (7) sex (8) sexuality (27) theory (33) theory/criticism/culture (4) to-read (64) USA (9) women (5)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1957-10-31
Date of death: 2021-06-28
Gender: female
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Education: Oberlin College, BA English, 1979
Cornell University, MA English, 1983
Cornell University, Ph.D. English, 1985
Occupations: professor (English)
George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago
Organizations: University of Chicago

Members

Reviews

Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant

I read this over the summer, but it's probably more of a January thing. When it gets real rough just to do anything at all, this stuff can help.

Flagged

Jetztzeit | 1 other review | May 15, 2020 |

Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant

Definitely thought-provoking, though some of the connections between chapters felt a little disparate? I really enjoyed chapter five, especially the thoughts related to slow death, but was less interested in other things? This just wasn't my greatest cup of tea, which is more about my feelings and less about the book itself. I liked it, I just wasn't thrilled and rarely felt like blown away. A good read nonetheless, and I recommend it to folks who want to engage with affect theory and see how it works/what it might be able to do for them.… (more)

Flagged

aijmiller | 1 other review | May 23, 2018 |