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Generation x douglas coupland review6/9/2023 ![]() Mixing narrative text with pop-art-inspired illustrations, slogans and definitions, the novel depicts what it refers to as our “accelerated culture”. Neither is the novel just a snapshot of young people’s concerns and lives in the early 1990s. As he puts it, “X is a term that defines not a chronological age but a way of looking at the world”. But rather than referring to a cohort of people born between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s, for Coupland “X” identifies the refusal of “the merry-go-round of status, money, and social climbing that so often frames modern existence”. ![]() Published 30 years ago, Generation X went on to become a cult text and helped to popularise the term “X” for those born between the mid-1960s and the early-1980s.Ĭoupland struck a chord, as his characters’ disaffection, “ knee-jerk irony”, and withdrawal from society chimed with depictions of the young in the early 1990s in popular culture. ![]() This is the plot of Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, the first novel by Canadian writer and artist Douglas Coupland. To survive, the three get McJobs – “low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future jobs in the service sector” – only finding solace in each other’s company and storytelling. Dissatisfied with society’s structures and expectations, they move to the Californian desert looking for new beginnings and more meaningful lives. Andy, Dag and Claire are in their twenties. ![]()
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