Cruel optimism is a 2011 book written by Lauren Berlant. Very hard to read. I doubted my ability to read English.

Sentence structure is complicated, particularly when the message becomes more introspective. Vocabulary is broad, but generally it feels necessary because how complex the topic is: any writting about the perception of the present can’t possibly be simple.

The book is an exploration of the concept “cruel optimism”. A relationship with something or someone that has some hope embedded but at the same time it cannot be achieved because of its constraints.

This exploration happens through the review or deconstruction of various books, poems, movies, performances. Each of them add a slightly different angle though the struggles of its people: Queerness or fatness or poverty or gender or social class.

All of them experience some form of detachment between the roles that their environment assigns to them (normativity) and their actual reality. This constant subconscious struggle leads to an impasse which is the term the author uses to describe their situation.

They want to get better but the constraints of the system they participate on don’t allow them to.

My take is that the overall critique is to societal structure when imposed to us. As we live in a highly social, class and economic defined society this is a very useful angle to explore. Awareness of these dynamics can bring relief, in the same way that awareness of gambling can allow recovery.

Despite the struggle reading it, I highly recommend this book for a deep exploration of the daily experience. In particular for those struggling with modernity’s predicament.

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