Yareah Magazine

The who's who of the artistic and literary avant-garde of the early 20th century known as the “Lost Generation” had roots (directly or indirectly) in the bohemian respite of post/pre-war Europe. Reacting to the devastation of one war and the preparations for the next, these painters, writers, photographers and sculptors set the cultural tone for much of the 20th century.
A substantial number of disenchanted Americans were in this group. Egged on by the lack of any real cultural identity but very real materialism in the United States, they migrated primarily to a then cheap Paris. In an era that recorded more unaccidental deaths than any other period in human history, their accomplishments were part of the artistic hallmarks of a grisly century.
When Gertrude Stein coined the phrase, the “lost generation”, she had no idea that the group was creating some of the uniquest literature and art ever produced. It was an incredible time. Stein, Joyce and Cocteau posed for Man Ray, whose work appeared in an exhibit with Miró, Arp, Masson and Picasso. Duchamp and Ernst were close friends of Man Ray. Eliot was Pound's disciple. Anderson, Picasso, Matisse and Hemingway were fixtures in Stein's salon. Ford published Stein, Joyce, Hemingway and Pound. Amid heavy drinking, youthful exuberance and torrid sexual escapades, they lived in a bohemian bubble that popped with the onset of WWII.
100 years later, North America has largely supplanted Europe as the cultural and economic powerhouse, only to be usurped by a resurgent Asia. Capitalism, briefly set back by the financial crisis of 2008, holds sway over much of the world. This time, however, there is no safety valve (Paris is no longer cheap), or any real literary or artistic movement (Dadaism, Naturalism, Cubism, Surrealism). The birth of apathism, fueled by the lack of involvement, the throw-away society and the failure to recognize purchases as votes, is a movement onto itself. Post-modernism and post-colonialism are tired if not dead. Yesterday’s ‘isms’ are today’s dot.com’s.
It would be interesting to see what the “Lost Generation” would make of the precarious state of the human race in 2009. Materialism, and the overuse of scant resources, has nearly trumped all else, including nature. The Lost Generation's bid to backlash against materialism (even if they inadvertently but enthusiastically encouraged it through travel, smoke, drink and hedonism) might find fertile ground in ecoism and sustainability. Yet as Man Ray said, it might not matter. When speaking about the state of Dadaism in 1958, Ray said, “Who cares? Who doesn't care?” It's an apt reflection of the state of the modern world, where apparent apathy is sometimes matched by unexpected action. The avant-garde inevitably becomes the status quo.

http://www.charleskinney.blogspot.com

Charles Kinney, Jr. http://www.charleskinney.blogspot.com/ is currently based in Norway, and has written for publications in Greenland, Denmark, the United States and the United Kingdom. He has taught and lectured at universities and educational institutions around the world. He's frequently appeared on Greenlandic TV http://charleskinney.blogspot.com/2009/03/singing-with-puppets-on-greenlandic-tv.html and recently completed a two-year posting as the US State Department's English Language Fellow to Greenland. 

*Yareah magazine es una revista cultural fundada y dirigida por el escritor Martín Cid.
**Created and edited by the writer Martin Cid.