Cruel Optimism

Berlant (2006) · A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, Brown University · Read the paper

this fixes the date of the term and nothing more. Our concept note Cruel Optimism should move originator_year from 'unknown' to 2006, with the caveat that the 2011 Duke University Press book of the same title is the fuller statement and was not read. Berlant's field was literary and cultural theory, not history, which the journal independently supports. She died in 2021. Do not paraphrase her argument

this fixes the date of the term and nothing more. Our concept note Cruel Optimism should move originator_year from 'unknown' to 2006, with the caveat that the 2011 Duke University Press book of the same title is the fuller statement and was not read. Berlant's field was literary and cultural theory, not history, which the journal independently supports. She died in 2021. Do not paraphrase her argument

Written from the abstract read 2026-10-18.

What our sources record

Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.

Berlant, L. (2006). 'Cruel Optimism.' differences, 17(3), 20-36. doi:10.1215/10407391-2006-009.