I define “cruel optimism” as a kind of relation in which one depends on objects that block the very thriving that motivates our attachment in the first place. All attachment is optimistic. But what makes it cruel is different than what makes something merely disappointing.
#BOOKS ON OPTIMISM HOW TO#
The third is about the need for a realism that embeds trauma and suffering in the ordinary rather than in a space of exception, given that the crises of exhaustion and knowing how to live are problems saturating ordinary life. and Europe-in which the consequences of cruel optimism are lived collectively. The first is the concept of cruel optimism (what’s optimism, what’s cruel about it). The second is on a particular scene-the end of the postwar good life fantasy and the rise of neoliberalism in the U.S. (MHQ)Ĭruel Optimism is a book about living within crisis, and about the destruction of our collective genres of what a “life” is it is about dramas of adjustment to the pressures that wear people out in the everyday and the longue durée it is about the blow of discovering that the world can no longer sustain one’s organizing fantasies of the good life. A big cup of green tea may be good company. Great music, diving into darkness, but done with compassion and love for life – and an essential read for everyone. This is the short version, the gist of the text. 17 on the muscian’s label ROOM40, and be presented in Michael’s „Radionacht Klanghorizonte“ on February 18th. The American theorist here delivers some insight into her book that is really worth reading. Lawrence English’s forthcoming album CRUEL OPTIMISM is inspired by Laurent Berlant’s long essay.
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