Very nice review. You made me realize I met Polonoff at BCTR -- need to read the book. I think the idea of the scene, of bohemia, is itself romantic, with some of the weaknesses that implies. I discussed that briefly in relation to Gasda's The Sleepers (and in relation to all my NYC friends' obsessions with NYC). I think the real work is getting done elsewhere, at least what work I get done, gets done elsewhere. NYC has too many worthy distractions, plus my day job. Again, very good review.
San Fran felt different--a scene--because they had lgbt. Now that everywhere does, thankfully, everywhere feels the same again, like in the 50s. We haven't lost that culture, we're now swimming in it, so what's water?
Good piece. I think for a while, the new scene was in Berlin. Cheaper than NYC, very international, and you could actually live there legally as an American because of their "artist visa," which only existed in Berlin, not even in the rest of Germany. But apparently people are priced out of Berlin now, too, and people ended up going to Lisbon (I know a few veteran NYC writers live there). Of course, the same thing is happening there, too, and for a lot of Americans, the idea of moving to Europe is a bit too much. This is shown pretty well in Vincenzo Latronico's "Perfection," albeit from the European point of view.
Nice piece.
The San Fran scene was manifested everywhere...big, small and overseas...
Let's all hear it for the substack dribble...
Very nice review. You made me realize I met Polonoff at BCTR -- need to read the book. I think the idea of the scene, of bohemia, is itself romantic, with some of the weaknesses that implies. I discussed that briefly in relation to Gasda's The Sleepers (and in relation to all my NYC friends' obsessions with NYC). I think the real work is getting done elsewhere, at least what work I get done, gets done elsewhere. NYC has too many worthy distractions, plus my day job. Again, very good review.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidawestbrook/p/new-york-existential-gm-gatsby-veblen?r=13evep&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
San Fran felt different--a scene--because they had lgbt. Now that everywhere does, thankfully, everywhere feels the same again, like in the 50s. We haven't lost that culture, we're now swimming in it, so what's water?
Good piece. I think for a while, the new scene was in Berlin. Cheaper than NYC, very international, and you could actually live there legally as an American because of their "artist visa," which only existed in Berlin, not even in the rest of Germany. But apparently people are priced out of Berlin now, too, and people ended up going to Lisbon (I know a few veteran NYC writers live there). Of course, the same thing is happening there, too, and for a lot of Americans, the idea of moving to Europe is a bit too much. This is shown pretty well in Vincenzo Latronico's "Perfection," albeit from the European point of view.