This was so concisely presented. Thank you. Spent the day browsing videos and articles honoring my former mentor by engaging in her scholarship today. Just found out she passed away today.
I think it might be helpful to mention Berlant’s transferred use of apostrophe to illustrate why the absence of the real desired thing in the present enables the immediate solution to work. It’s like creating an illusion fo the absent something so that one can stay attached to one’s attachments
When I read Berlant for the first time, it give me a headache because of the fully psychoanalytic lenguage (especially with desire) and the bad traduction (i'm a spanish speaker), but later on I encounter some sense for that perpetual present/precarious present in terms of desire. Another reading key I found was by hand of degrowth (strongly recommend this fascinating literature) because it makes visible that "good life", that relationship of attachment that economic growth promises that configures desire, and, at the same time, restricts from flourishing. Thanks for the video!
This brings me back to my MPhil days. Thank you! I was deeply moved by her reading of Two Girls, Fat and Thin, and Rosetta in Cruel Optimism. Sad to hear she has passed away last year. EDIT: I think reading Cruel Optimism really helped me through my MPhil years (mine is in a different field), and this more or less led me to not pursuing my prospect in a PhD program.
@David Liu - I don't mean to pry, but if you feel able to, would you explain what led you to not pursue your PhD programme? I am a part time PhD student in the field of English literature looking for better/new ways of doing literary criticism and I have been getting into affect theory recently, but am still having doubts.
@@honeychurchgipsy6 okay before going on about me not going for the PhD, I just wanna say that it’s been 5 years since I got my MPhil (British system). Affect theory was kinda my guilty pleasure back then - mostly writings from Eve Sedgwick, Lauren Berlant, Kathleen Stewart, to name a few. As for Berlant’s cruel optimism, I was… mesmerized by her lyrical writings in some of the chapters (and especially her writing on the cover - If Body: Riva and Zoe’s in the middle age). I entered my PG program at the age of 28 while having work commitments. Back then the PG program was more of my dream project - yeah I did take it as a potential ticket to a PhD project. But pretty soon a lot of things made my life whole lot complicated, and I came to gradual realization (for me at least) that obtaining a PhD probably didn’t mean that much to me, and perhaps I just came to face who I really am - someone who hanged onto his previous academic achievement a bit too much, and after my UG years I wasn’t so sharp as I was before. So I kinda slowly drifted away from academia after I finished my dissertation. Now I have been working for a few pharmaceutical companies (think of Love and Other Drugs except with a lot less glamour). While I still feel miserable at time (my 3-year partner left me about 7 months ago - it’s all my fault), I’m pretty sure it’s a bit better than chasing dissertation deadline and slowing sacrificing my mental health.
@@Davidpapa111 - thanks so much for sharing, and I hope you meet someone new - and I seriously doubt it was all your fault. I asked you why you chose not to go for the doctorate for a reason. I hear myself in some of what you say. I did my UG in English in my late 30's and became convinced I was going to be an academic. However, I had health issues and never completed an MA - I had ideas for my PhD , but really wanted to do a taught MA first. I did 3 weeks at Southampton and a whole semester at Sussex (trying to work as well and dealing with pain). Then, in 2016, my old University - Chichester (just up the road and they knew me) - started an English MA - I did it part time (my lovely mum died in the middle of it - so I completed my dissertation in 2020). Now I am doing a part time PhD - I'm 61 years old, have chronic pain as well as anxiety/bad executive function - and I'm approaching my first APR thinking - WTF am I doing to myself - am I still chasing those dreams - is it all just ego? On the other hand - as a disabled older person - what else am I going to do - play chess all day - lol?
@@honeychurchgipsy6 hope you’re getting on ok with it all. I’m approaching 60 and putting a PhD proposal together whilst dealing with imposter syndrome..but will push ahead. Your comment resonated with me so wishing you luck with it all.
@@janeylfoster6197 - not too bad (still struggling with a lack of executive function (adhd?), as well as my constant pain and tiredness), but I'm trying to do regular work. My APR went well but then the university got rid of my lead supervisor and half of my APR team! But I'm sorted now! I, like you, suffer from imposter syndrome, but I think it's pretty common so don't worry too much about it. I've been doing a lot of reading about cognitive narratology recently (Lisa Zunshine, Alan Palmer) and this has given me a renewed confidence in the subject of English. I've always loved linguistics/stylistics and this is just like the 21st century, more scientific, version. I hope your proposal goes well and don't get too bogged down, you will be asked to write a formal proposal some time in the future, after you've been on the PhD for a while. This initial proposal is just to see that the uni can support your research - that they have someone who can supervise you - and to ascertain how much you know about your subject area. Just out of interest, what is the general subject area of your research, I'd love to know?
that was really interesting to listen to, thanks for making it so digestible -- i'd never thought of trauma as being a perpetual crisis. very happy i found your channel a few weeks back!
If with the lotto theme there you're referring to Dan Gilbert's "synthetic happiness", I would say it is too broad to note why people aren't happier a year after they win. Eg. They may finally have been able to buy something they really needed, but people they had trusted may have stolen from them along the way. It's amazing how people change when they believe that money means nothing! Also, can I just say with that thumbnail, phones should be held at least 6" away from the body! See Dr. Devra Davis for more information. Thanks for the videos. 😉
Sounds like "cruel optimism" = misplaced expectations. But that is an over-simplification. We the people had a real opportunity to create and participate in a better world and so did you. It was not a pie in the sky situation at all. That is what life is about -- right? We try things and grow during the process. We discover what we do or do not 'really' want. If pursuit of democracy is an example of blind optimism, we will discover it and take a new trek into the future. This type of book genders no genuine discussion in my opinion. It seems like so much neoliberal clap-trap. Nouveau liberals are very much alike in that they discount and take as not serious that people have believed in a system of things that are supposed to add up to democracy. The neoliberal is so busy seeing other people as blind dupes that they miss their part in the failed fantasy, the trashed dream. The world is not supposed to be heading into a WW III scenerio and yet here we are; liberal or conservative we are all in here together. Neither the slave or proletariat will get to heaven before the neoliberal gets to the next World War. I can guarantee it.
using a lot of Berlant's work for my master's thesis, can somebody please clear up what her/their preferred pronouns are? I swear they use they/them but this video (as quite recent) seems to suggest otherwise??
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This was so concisely presented. Thank you. Spent the day browsing videos and articles honoring my former mentor by engaging in her scholarship today. Just found out she passed away today.
I think it might be helpful to mention Berlant’s transferred use of apostrophe to illustrate why the absence of the real desired thing in the present enables the immediate solution to work. It’s like creating an illusion fo the absent something so that one can stay attached to one’s attachments
This reminds me of the Transparency of Evil by Jean Baudrillard. The system creates it's own enemies etc.
When I read Berlant for the first time, it give me a headache because of the fully psychoanalytic lenguage (especially with desire) and the bad traduction (i'm a spanish speaker), but later on I encounter some sense for that perpetual present/precarious present in terms of desire. Another reading key I found was by hand of degrowth (strongly recommend this fascinating literature) because it makes visible that "good life", that relationship of attachment that economic growth promises that configures desire, and, at the same time, restricts from flourishing. Thanks for the video!
This brings me back to my MPhil days. Thank you! I was deeply moved by her reading of Two Girls, Fat and Thin, and Rosetta in Cruel Optimism. Sad to hear she has passed away last year.
EDIT: I think reading Cruel Optimism really helped me through my MPhil years (mine is in a different field), and this more or less led me to not pursuing my prospect in a PhD program.
@David Liu - I don't mean to pry, but if you feel able to, would you explain what led you to not pursue your PhD programme? I am a part time PhD student in the field of English literature looking for better/new ways of doing literary criticism and I have been getting into affect theory recently, but am still having doubts.
@@honeychurchgipsy6 okay before going on about me not going for the PhD, I just wanna say that it’s been 5 years since I got my MPhil (British system). Affect theory was kinda my guilty pleasure back then - mostly writings from Eve Sedgwick, Lauren Berlant, Kathleen Stewart, to name a few. As for Berlant’s cruel optimism, I was… mesmerized by her lyrical writings in some of the chapters (and especially her writing on the cover - If Body: Riva and Zoe’s in the middle age).
I entered my PG program at the age of 28 while having work commitments. Back then the PG program was more of my dream project - yeah I did take it as a potential ticket to a PhD project. But pretty soon a lot of things made my life whole lot complicated, and I came to gradual realization (for me at least) that obtaining a PhD probably didn’t mean that much to me, and perhaps I just came to face who I really am - someone who hanged onto his previous academic achievement a bit too much, and after my UG years I wasn’t so sharp as I was before. So I kinda slowly drifted away from academia after I finished my dissertation.
Now I have been working for a few pharmaceutical companies (think of Love and Other Drugs except with a lot less glamour). While I still feel miserable at time (my 3-year partner left me about 7 months ago - it’s all my fault), I’m pretty sure it’s a bit better than chasing dissertation deadline and slowing sacrificing my mental health.
@@Davidpapa111 - thanks so much for sharing, and I hope you meet someone new - and I seriously doubt it was all your fault.
I asked you why you chose not to go for the doctorate for a reason. I hear myself in some of what you say. I did my UG in English in my late 30's and became convinced I was going to be an academic. However, I had health issues and never completed an MA - I had ideas for my PhD , but really wanted to do a taught MA first. I did 3 weeks at Southampton and a whole semester at Sussex (trying to work as well and dealing with pain).
Then, in 2016, my old University - Chichester (just up the road and they knew me) - started an English MA - I did it part time (my lovely mum died in the middle of it - so I completed my dissertation in 2020).
Now I am doing a part time PhD - I'm 61 years old, have chronic pain as well as anxiety/bad executive function - and I'm approaching my first APR thinking - WTF am I doing to myself - am I still chasing those dreams - is it all just ego?
On the other hand - as a disabled older person - what else am I going to do - play chess all day - lol?
@@honeychurchgipsy6 hope you’re getting on ok with it all. I’m approaching 60 and putting a PhD proposal together whilst dealing with imposter syndrome..but will push ahead. Your comment resonated with me so wishing you luck with it all.
@@janeylfoster6197 - not too bad (still struggling with a lack of executive function (adhd?), as well as my constant pain and tiredness), but I'm trying to do regular work. My APR went well but then the university got rid of my lead supervisor and half of my APR team! But I'm sorted now!
I, like you, suffer from imposter syndrome, but I think it's pretty common so don't worry too much about it.
I've been doing a lot of reading about cognitive narratology recently (Lisa Zunshine, Alan Palmer) and this has given me a renewed confidence in the subject of English. I've always loved linguistics/stylistics and this is just like the 21st century, more scientific, version.
I hope your proposal goes well and don't get too bogged down, you will be asked to write a formal proposal some time in the future, after you've been on the PhD for a while. This initial proposal is just to see that the uni can support your research - that they have someone who can supervise you - and to ascertain how much you know about your subject area.
Just out of interest, what is the general subject area of your research, I'd love to know?
Not sure where I've heard it before, but I really like the idea of thinking about neoliberalism as the perpetual present.
Jameson said the same thing about postmodernism in the 1980s
Mark Fisher or Frederic Jameson maybe
Just really like your way of explaining things. I always feel like i am learning something new when watching your videos.
that was really interesting to listen to, thanks for making it so digestible -- i'd never thought of trauma as being a perpetual crisis. very happy i found your channel a few weeks back!
You have a good voice and your content is over the top engaging. My favourite podcast
If with the lotto theme there you're referring to Dan Gilbert's "synthetic happiness", I would say it is too broad to note why people aren't happier a year after they win. Eg. They may finally have been able to buy something they really needed, but people they had trusted may have stolen from them along the way. It's amazing how people change when they believe that money means nothing!
Also, can I just say with that thumbnail, phones should be held at least 6" away from the body! See Dr. Devra Davis for more information. Thanks for the videos. 😉
hi please do the full book i am doing a phd and am trying to read as few books as possible thx
I would love to hear the whole book! I read the whole thing over a few years, I keep meaning to reread it all at once, but never find the time...
we want the whole book!!
Well explained, wish it was a deep dive instead.
thank you for this!!!!! I'm reading a chapter of Cruel Optimism for class and the language is just so confusing to me.
Everything i look up your page pops up lol slay
How does this really differ from Lacan's notions of the nature of desire which is always already absent?
Love your videos, thanks!
If you could review the whole book that would be great
He says he is not going to cover the whole book in this lecture.
Sounds like "cruel optimism" = misplaced expectations. But that is an over-simplification. We the people had a real opportunity to create and participate in a better world and so did you. It was not a pie in the sky situation at all. That is what life is about -- right? We try things and grow during the process. We discover what we do or do not 'really' want. If pursuit of democracy is an example of blind optimism, we will discover it and take a new trek into the future. This type of book genders no genuine discussion in my opinion. It seems like so much neoliberal clap-trap. Nouveau liberals are very much alike in that they discount and take as not serious that people have believed in a system of things that are supposed to add up to democracy. The neoliberal is so busy seeing other people as blind dupes that they miss their part in the failed fantasy, the trashed dream. The world is not supposed to be heading into a WW III scenerio and yet here we are; liberal or conservative we are all in here together. Neither the slave or proletariat will get to heaven before the neoliberal gets to the next World War. I can guarantee it.
kitty!
To see you actually speaking is kinda different from listening to the podcast hhh
using a lot of Berlant's work for my master's thesis, can somebody please clear up what her/their preferred pronouns are? I swear they use they/them but this video (as quite recent) seems to suggest otherwise??
They used they/them later in their life. I think this video was made before their pronoun change was more widely known.
She used they/them professionally and she/her personally.
Oddly laughed at your saying "we would be able to raise 2.3 kids."