The Inconvenience Drive of the Comedic

Abstract: The article proposes a reading of Berlant's On the Inconvenience of Other People that focuses on their understanding of the comedic and the way the latter intersects with the book's other major themes, sexuality and politics. It shows how Berlant's project could be seen as a conceptual proposal, an invitation to build with what keeps us apart. The comedic - which Berlant distinguishes from comedy as a genre form - is a double movement, both of loosening an object, making it available for different kinds of attachment, and of proceeding, persisting in this difference and effectively making other, different connections. Particular attention is paid to the interesting connection between the notion of the inconvenience and that of desire and drive. The author also discusses some differences between Berlant's and her understanding of comedy.