25 June 2009

The Found Generation - Inaugural Post



Welcome to my blog, or web journal, whichever you prefer. I've named it The Found Generation for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is a call-back to my favourite literary movement, The Lost Generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, all giants in field of letters, whose merits deserve inexhaustible praise. I beg the pardon of any visitors to the pretension of being some kind of "literary heir" to these behemoths, but my reference to this generation of lost souls is layered. My hope being the rationale for such a moniker seems less self-indulgent with due time.

Today we are The Found Generation. The world is a much better place to live in than 80 years ago. Our great literary heroes were called the Lost Generation as a way to describe their return from the Great War, disillusioned by humanity, shellshocked by the unimaginable horrors of total war, left to fend for themselves in an world they could hardly recognize. They quickly realised they never knew it in the first place. Never had humankind turned upon itself with such unrestrained savagery, and sadly, it would do so again, with even more devastating results.

We know who we are now, maybe. We are blessed with infinite access to knowledge and information, and there is no world war to speak of. Of what global or national tragedy will future generations will study in us? I can't think of one. The one civic duty our social contract demands is avid consumerism. Social injustice has waned. We are free to pursue happiness and revel in prosperity. Comparatively speaking, for the average human there is no greater time to be alive than right here, right now.

So we're Found, but not really...not at all actually. We should be Found, we have every advantage to achieve it, but we aren't. In many ways, we're more confused, disaffected, and disjointed than ever. This space is dedicating itself to exploring this phenomenon through the lens of literature, cinema, music, sport, and social commentary.

As is customary of this medium, interaction is strongly encouraged. Ideally, the Found Generation will act as a beacon to all those restless souls who tirelessly strive for something greater than themselves.

4 comments:

  1. I hope Richard Yates gets a mention - that writer you mentioned to me months ago before "Revolutionary Road" even hit the cinemas.

    From what I can gather from Blake Bailey's superb biography " A Tragic Honesty, The Life and Work of Richard Yates", Yates was a massive Fitzgerald fan, and basically went the same way (alcohol + mental illness). A bit like Scott and Zelda combined! Talk about lost and found.

    Anyway, lots of luck with the blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Matt thanks for the well-wishes! Yates definitely is in the forefront of my thinking. He is an absolute master in the nature of loss. I'm sure he'll certainly get a lot of "air-time" here.

    Valentin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great first post. Look forward to following this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Whenever I am near Princeton, I wander into Holder Quad where (i think) Fitzgerald lived for a time. And I cry.

    ReplyDelete