Although I find his political commentary generally wanting, and far too conservative for my tastes, I am enjoying David Brooks' BOBOS (Bourgeois Bohemians) in Paradise, which I picked up today on the advice of the lovely Lulu, along with Graceland by Chris Abani, and Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson, at the Book Cellar.
I have just started Bobos, but it is a welcome, hilariously well-informed and biting satire of so much that seems commonplace in New York, especially. He begins his analysis with the first wave of Bohemianism, against puritanical middle-class American ideals in the 18th century and what he terms "parlor society," with the attendant focus on front-room status and impressing guests:
The idea was to create an elevated environment where people could cultivate delicate sensibilities and higher interests. It was also a place where people could show off their genteel manners and demonstrate their elite status...The new upper middle classes were building a social hierarchy that would allow them to distinguish themselves from the course masses. In parlor society, women were praised for having tiny hands and feet and for landing on the carpet like butterflies.
That last sentence is, of course, exquisite.
The book and its interesting perspective as a cultural study is turning out to be a surprisingly fun read, but I would more highly recommend Among The Bohemians: Experiments In Living 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson, an excellent, illuminating, and generally flawless historical survey of early 20th-century poets, painters, artists, rebels and genteel vagabonds in Great Britain and the way their independent choices profoundly influenced the way we live today.
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