Desire/Love - Classic Text | Alexandria
Desire/Love (2012) is a pivotal theoretical text by Lauren Berlant (1957-2021), a distinguished American cultural theorist and James F. Knapp Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. This concise yet profound work examines the complex interplay between desire and love in contemporary culture, offering a critical framework for understanding how these fundamental human experiences shape both personal intimacies and broader social structures.
Published as part of the Short Circuits series by Punctum Books, Desire/Love emerged during a period of increasing academic interest in affect theory and the cultural politics of emotion. The text builds upon Berlant's earlier groundbreaking works, including "Cruel Optimism" (2011), and represents a culmination of her decades-long investigation into the relationship between emotion, politics, and everyday life in American culture.
The book's theoretical framework challenges conventional understandings of desire and love as purely personal or psychological phenomena. Instead, Berlant presents these concepts as deeply embedded within social, political, and economic systems. Through careful analysis of cultural texts, media representations, and theoretical discourse, she reveals how desire and love function as organizing principles in both intimate relationships and larger societal structures. The slash in the title itself becomes significant, suggesting both connection and division between these two supposedly distinct emotional states.
Berlant's work continues to influence contemporary discussions in cultural studies, queer theory, and affect theory. Her analysis of how desire and love operate within what she terms "the good life fantasy" has proven particularly prescient in understanding modern relationships and their mediation through digital technologies and late capitalism. The text's enduring relevance lies in its ability to illuminate how personal feelings are inexorably linked to broader systems of power, privilege, and social organization.
Following Berlant's untimely death in 2021, Desire/Love has taken on additional significance as part of her intellectual legacy, serving as a crucial entry point into her broader theoretical contributions to cultural criticism and affect studies. The work remains a cornerstone text for scholars and students examining the intersection of emotion, politics, and cultural theory in the twenty-first century.