Critical Essay | Critical Review by John Williams

Critical Review by John Williams

SOURCE: “Charmers,” in New Statesman and Society, Vol. 5, No. 204, May 29, 1992, p. 40.

In the following excerpt, Williams discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Generation X.

Coupland has come out of nowhere with Generation X, a book enveloped in clouds of hype optimistically proclaiming it as that publishing Holy Grail, “the new Catcher in the Rye”. Here at last, so the hype has it, is the book that defines a twentysomething generation, Generation X: a term publishers seem inordinately pleased with, considering it has had at least two previous outings. First it was the title of an early 1960s piece of youth-cult sociology, and then the name for Billy Idol's vaguely seminal punk combo.

Generation X's Unique Selling Point is its fetching square format and wide margins peppered with zappy neologisms (e.g., “Ozmosis: The inability of one's job to live up to one's self-image”), cartoons and rather...
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