University of Toronto Graduate English Conference: Intimacies/Intimations
In the introduction to the Winter 1998 edition of Critical Inquiry, Lauren Berlant suggests that “the inwardness of the intimate is met by a corresponding publicness.” Over two decades later, Berlant’s pronouncement remains pertinent, particularly as the transition of our work and social lives to online spaces complicates the relationship between the private and the public. Stripped of actual bodily closeness and intimacy, the virtual body, along with its intimations and those of its domestic space, has been thrown into relief.