A generation feels lost for having missed every militant moment by a phase
Evidence
Savage Messiah is written for those who could not be regenerated, even if they wanted to be. They are the unregenerated, a lost generation, ‘always yearning for the time that just eluded us’: those who were born too late for punk but whose expectations were raised by its incendiary afterglow; those who watched the Miners’ Strike with partisan adolescent eyes but who were too young to really participate in the militancy; those who experienced the future-rush euphoria of rave as their birthright, never dreaming that it could burn out like fried synapses; those, in short, who simply did not find the ‘reality’ imposed by the conquering forces of neoliberalism liveable. — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 476
Categorization
- XREF: Resonates with the earlier ‘Lost futures haunt a city more keenly than its past does’ and the Lost Futures thematics of the book as a whole. — connects to: A place becomes haunted by being stained with a singular intense year — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 483; Cultural conservatism tracks the cost of rent and social withdrawal. — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 49; Diasporic subjects miss shared generational experience with those who stayed behind — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 768 (+2 more)
- SHARE: Send to a friend who grew up on the postpunk/rave afterglow — this characterization of being born ‘too late’ for each insurgency is sharply generational.
Broader Connections
- Postmodernism discourse expresses a generation’s disillusionment rather than describing reality.
#expands(0.82) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 625 - The 1968 generation’s disillusionment followed the events’ modernizing logic
#exemplifies(0.80) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 610 - Diasporic subjects miss shared generational experience with those who stayed behind
#exemplifies(0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 768