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Intimacy
Last year's impeachment of President Bill Clinton demonstrated the paradox, but did not begin to explain it.
How is it that "private matters" are analyzed endlessly in public forums on a daily basis? Why is it assumed that "getting a life" means having a private relationship? Intended to unravel some of the tangled relations that fall under the broad category of "intimacy," this provocative collection of sixteen essays articulates the ways in which intimate lives are connected with the institutions, ideologies, and desires that organize people's worlds.
Locating its domain in the familiar spaces of friendship, love, sex, family, and feeling "at home," Intimacy also examines the estrangement, betrayal, loneliness, and even violence that may accompany the demise of relationships, both personal and political. These include intimacies among strangers, such as happens in times of national scandal or habits of everyday life. The contributors to this volume traverse many disciplines and cultures, tracking the processes by which intimate lives absorb and repel the dominant rhetoric, law, ethics, and ideologies of public spheres. Drawing on examples from contemporary culture, history, art, literature, and music, this book illuminates the ways in which intimacy has become linked with stories of citizenship, capitalism, aesthetic forms, and the writing of history. As it challenges conventional notions of private life, Intimacy is sure to spark controversy about its institutions as well.
Some of these essays in this book were previously published in an award-winning issue of the journal "Critical Inquiry."
Contributors include Lauren Berlant, Svetlana Boym, Steven Feld, Deborah R. Grayson, Michael Hanchard, Dagmar Herzog, Annamarie Jagose, Laura Kipnis, Laura Letinsky, Biddy Martin, Maureen McLane, Mary Poovey, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Eve Kosovsky Sedgwick, Joel Snyder, Candace Vogler, Michael Warner, and others.
How is it that "private matters" are analyzed endlessly in public forums on a daily basis? Why is it assumed that "getting a life" means having a private relationship? Intended to unravel some of the tangled relations that fall under the broad category of "intimacy," this provocative collection of sixteen essays articulates the ways in which intimate lives are connected with the institutions, ideologies, and desires that organize people's worlds.
Locating its domain in the familiar spaces of friendship, love, sex, family, and feeling "at home," Intimacy also examines the estrangement, betrayal, loneliness, and even violence that may accompany the demise of relationships, both personal and political. These include intimacies among strangers, such as happens in times of national scandal or habits of everyday life. The contributors to this volume traverse many disciplines and cultures, tracking the processes by which intimate lives absorb and repel the dominant rhetoric, law, ethics, and ideologies of public spheres. Drawing on examples from contemporary culture, history, art, literature, and music, this book illuminates the ways in which intimacy has become linked with stories of citizenship, capitalism, aesthetic forms, and the writing of history. As it challenges conventional notions of private life, Intimacy is sure to spark controversy about its institutions as well.
Some of these essays in this book were previously published in an award-winning issue of the journal "Critical Inquiry."
Contributors include Lauren Berlant, Svetlana Boym, Steven Feld, Deborah R. Grayson, Michael Hanchard, Dagmar Herzog, Annamarie Jagose, Laura Kipnis, Laura Letinsky, Biddy Martin, Maureen McLane, Mary Poovey, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Eve Kosovsky Sedgwick, Joel Snyder, Candace Vogler, Michael Warner, and others.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
Lauren Berlant
29 books324 followersLauren Berlant was an English Professor at the University of Chicago, where they taught since 1984. Berlant received their Ph.D. from Cornell University. They wrote and taught on issues of intimacy and belonging in popular culture, in relation to the history and fantasy of citizenship.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 13, 2011
3 of us have decided to start our own little wine-fuelled Theoretical Sunday book club and this is the first text, chosen by me. The rules are lightweight, two essays at a time, and I am obsessed with the first article on Adultery already, its incredible! It is making adultery seem like the most natural thing in the world right now, even though I am a heartfelt monogamist, the way she talks about desire has me yawning for all the married-for-30-years couples out there. Of course, in reality, I'm really envious of the 30-years-together couples; maybe one day i will have been alive and functional long enough to get there too.
August 17, 2016
High-quality collection of superb essays--just what I was looking for! I particularly appreciated the essays by Candace Vogler ("Sex and Talk"), Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick ("A Dialogue on Love"), Laura Kipnis ("Adultery"), and Svetlana Boym ("On Diasporic Intimacy"). I borrowed this book from the library but will likely purchase a copy to teach from in the future.
February 1, 2023
fantastic cover
some essays better than others; particularly "a dialogue on love", the introduction, "adultery", and "sex and talk"
some essays better than others; particularly "a dialogue on love", the introduction, "adultery", and "sex and talk"
September 12, 2022
Berlant was a rock star. I think she had an essay in here about women’s privacy and the advent of ultrasound movies as a form of surveillance.
July 23, 2007
Actually a bit disappointing, given the line-up of heavy hitters involved: Laureb Berlant, Steven Feld, Elizabeth Povinelli, Michael Warner, Eve Sedgwick, Kathleen Stewart and others
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October 10, 2013302 I61948 2000
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews