I personally am a bit less despairing than Smith, although I admit to chagrin over the extent to which one gradually becomes a non-person among one's "extended network" when one makes a conscious effort to live life in the real world and minimize use of social media. Hurts a bit when old friends don't trouble to answer e-mails. Everyone's busy, of course.
let me say this - bohemianism is not as dead as you might think, but it is dead in (for example) San francisco, hotbed of american boho lifestyles for a hundred and fifty years. no, bohemianism is alive and well but is centered around liberal arts colleges and their postgrads- kids who watched and appreciated Girls for what it was but are infinitely grungier and less obviously capable than those women. take a look at the instagrams of young hip ppl in downtown nyc, the hudson valley, richmond va, tblisi georgia - i think you’d be surprised by what you see. i will say this - nyc remains bohemianism ground zero. i would give more concrete examples but i don’t want to post them publicly. i will also say that your bit about social media ruining a lot of this is spot on - it’s in places where young people can physically drop in on one another socially, enter and exit space’s autonomously, where bohemianism is at its strongest. sadly v rare these days. exits most frequently in the apartments of grad students, young gallerists, and diy musicians.
I love your last sentence. I just read an amazing graphic novel of the poem of Howl https://www.kerouac.com/shop/howl-graphic-novel/ that was great but like you, I so appreciate the idea of Bohemianism but not sure I could have the nerve - and agree that few if any of us do.
Is that it? The “beat” thing left the building decades ago. Burroughs killed his wife playing William Tell, as folklore repeats. I’ve collaborated with several of the known characters in that genre. I’m a fan of Kerouac and Burroughs. Todays cancel culture, now, etc. generation are so far from being anything close to hip. Burroughs was a serious gun owner, Jack was a closet Republican. Todays stream of consciousness is written over lattes and chipolte burritos. Jazz is Snarky Puppy, Blues is John Mayer. The poor staving writer, artist has a problem with their universities lack of safe zones. Their Wi-Fi is slow, you get my point.
Okay, but I feel like there’s a subtext here that values transgression over expression. Not sure I agree with that take. Which is to say that I don’t think self-expression via individualism loses existential points because it’s no longer transgressive. I might say that’s a feature not a bug.
If the point was self-expression then the transgression may have been necessary but also tangential. The thrill is gone but maybe the ‘thrill’ wasn’t the point? Some of the bohemians probably just wanted to live their truth? Now, theoretically, they could do so without needing to create a counterculture.
I like what you wrote at the end, it is true. Even if not one yourself, one can no longer even imagine someone out there living like troubadors or bohemian vagabond these days.
You might appreciate this article by Justin E. H. Smith, which makes some parallel observations (and adds more Burroughs): https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/its-all-over/
I personally am a bit less despairing than Smith, although I admit to chagrin over the extent to which one gradually becomes a non-person among one's "extended network" when one makes a conscious effort to live life in the real world and minimize use of social media. Hurts a bit when old friends don't trouble to answer e-mails. Everyone's busy, of course.
let me say this - bohemianism is not as dead as you might think, but it is dead in (for example) San francisco, hotbed of american boho lifestyles for a hundred and fifty years. no, bohemianism is alive and well but is centered around liberal arts colleges and their postgrads- kids who watched and appreciated Girls for what it was but are infinitely grungier and less obviously capable than those women. take a look at the instagrams of young hip ppl in downtown nyc, the hudson valley, richmond va, tblisi georgia - i think you’d be surprised by what you see. i will say this - nyc remains bohemianism ground zero. i would give more concrete examples but i don’t want to post them publicly. i will also say that your bit about social media ruining a lot of this is spot on - it’s in places where young people can physically drop in on one another socially, enter and exit space’s autonomously, where bohemianism is at its strongest. sadly v rare these days. exits most frequently in the apartments of grad students, young gallerists, and diy musicians.
I love your last sentence. I just read an amazing graphic novel of the poem of Howl https://www.kerouac.com/shop/howl-graphic-novel/ that was great but like you, I so appreciate the idea of Bohemianism but not sure I could have the nerve - and agree that few if any of us do.
Is that it? The “beat” thing left the building decades ago. Burroughs killed his wife playing William Tell, as folklore repeats. I’ve collaborated with several of the known characters in that genre. I’m a fan of Kerouac and Burroughs. Todays cancel culture, now, etc. generation are so far from being anything close to hip. Burroughs was a serious gun owner, Jack was a closet Republican. Todays stream of consciousness is written over lattes and chipolte burritos. Jazz is Snarky Puppy, Blues is John Mayer. The poor staving writer, artist has a problem with their universities lack of safe zones. Their Wi-Fi is slow, you get my point.
Okay, but I feel like there’s a subtext here that values transgression over expression. Not sure I agree with that take. Which is to say that I don’t think self-expression via individualism loses existential points because it’s no longer transgressive. I might say that’s a feature not a bug.
If the point was self-expression then the transgression may have been necessary but also tangential. The thrill is gone but maybe the ‘thrill’ wasn’t the point? Some of the bohemians probably just wanted to live their truth? Now, theoretically, they could do so without needing to create a counterculture.
I like what you wrote at the end, it is true. Even if not one yourself, one can no longer even imagine someone out there living like troubadors or bohemian vagabond these days.