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Bryan Myrick

Literature Resource Center - Document - 1 views

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    Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture was Coupland's first novel. This article describes it has a "Serious" novel, that is actually popular! Such a surprise that people would like a serious novel about the middle-class. The journey that Andrew Palmer goes through culture degrading.
Sebastian Shores

Literature Resource Center - Document - 0 views

  • Douglas Coupland, zeitgeist chronicler, furniture designer and defender of the Helvetica font, may or may not be interested in saving the world.
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      Coupland's unique style is mentioned. He often goes against the norm, which could stem from his bizarre life he lives himself.
  • ''Generation A,'' he not only addresses our contemporary spiritual malaise
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      Coupland illustrates through the lives of five people the spiritual discomfort one goes through when in a time of crisis or change occurs.
  • is not a sequel to but rather a thematic wink at Coupland's first novel, ''Generation X'' (1991), about young slackers experiencing postindustrial fin de siecle ennui and sitting around telling stories.
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      While Coupland's first book "Generation X" could be closely related with his latest novel "Generation A" they are not related but have a similar plot.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • From the beginning, Coupland's novels have explored the vertiginous acceleration of culture as it intersects with media and technology
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      Coupland's novel are all based around his fascination and views of how the world changes with the advancement of technology and media.
  • teenagers and young adults, dropouts and designers, programmers and cubicle inhabitants, gamers and geeks
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      Having characters from different walks of life and personalities are the basic foundation to make Coupland's novels work effectively. 
  • All of it is rendered with the paradoxical combination of empathy and irony that marks Coupland's work. And ''Generation A'' is no exception.
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      Empathy is felt for all of Coupland's characters making the story work.
  • the novel is set in a near future when bees are thought to have become extinc
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      Bees as an extinct insect from Coupland's novel "Generation A" set in the near future acts as the main conflict that brings the characters together.
  • Also extinct are heroin addicts, because, of course, ''poppies require bees.'' Instead, a sinister prescription drug called Solon has filled the gap, treating anxiety by blocking thoughts of the future.
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      The extinction of bees creates a domino effect resulting in heroin addicts being left with no supplies to continue this drug usage. 
  • The novel opens with five separate but highly publicized incidents: its narrators are all stung by bees.
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      The narrators Coupland brings together are all victims that have been stung by bees which have been extinct for quite some time. 
  • Each narrator is immediately captured by thuggish government agents, then detained in isolated research facilities and forced to undergo testing to discover what attracted the bees and what portent that might hold for the ailing environment.
  • Whatever it is we enjoy about stories, we enjoy them because we forget they are stories. We have given ourselves over to something greater than mere form. And, no matter how cleverly you try, if you point that out to us, you break that fragile spell. End of story.
    • Sebastian Shores
       
      Coupland accomplishes his mission of making his story work by having the audience forget it's just merely a story.
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