Searching for Lauren Berlant: Reflections on writing, temporality and loss

Johnson, Clare

Abstract

This article reflects on the difficulties of writing with/alongside creative practice during periods of lockdown endured as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It follows my search for Lauren Berlant's writing on the pandemic and my desire to make sense of the claustrophobic intensity of that time through their writing on attachment, precarity and 'cruel optimism'. In reflecting on the failure to write, this article journeys through temporal rhythms, critiques of neo-liberalism, temporalities of care and unending lists to argue for the importance of hidden work in writing and/as ordinary life.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 7, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 2, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Writing in Creative Practice
• Print ISSN: 1753-5190
• Electronic ISSN: 1753-5204
• Publisher: Intellect
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 264-274
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jwcp_00041_1
• Keywords: Lauren Berlant, writing, temporality and loss, loss, temporality, Creative Practice, Creative writing
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9987541
• Publisher URL: https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jwcp_00041_1
• Related Public URLs: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=154/