(Photo by D.J. Weir)
About Douglas Coupland
Born in Germany, Douglas grew up in Vancouver, and studied art and design in B.C., Italy and Japan.
His breakout novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, was an international bestseller and became a pop culture phenomenon. Since then, he has written 11 more novels, including Shampoo Planet, Life After God, Microserfs and Hey Nostradamus!, which won the Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction. His non-fiction books include Polaroids from the Dead , Terry: The Life of Terry Fox, and Souvenir of Canada.
In other media, Douglas has written an original screenplay for the feature film Everything's Gone Green (2006) and adapted his novel jPod for a CBC-TV series in 2007. He has written and performed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in England. He's also a frequent commentator on popular culture and technology, with pieces in the New York Times, the New Republic and ArtForum.
About Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
With Generation X , Douglas Coupland didn't just write a book that sold wildly in North America and around the world. He changed the way people viewed an entire generation, while coining such unforgettable terms as "McJob" and "poverty jet set." The novel serves up angst with a generous helping of wit, and is both entertaining and illuminating.
Andy, Dag and Claire have cut themselves loose from their hometowns and live in adjacent cottages in Palm Springs, California. They're connected by their friendship and by the feeling that the world is passing them by, but that dropping out is still the only sensible solution.
Oppressed by the successes of their yuppie elders and by a sense of their own "futurelessness," the trio juggles their anxieties, their diminishing expectations and their cynicism. Bored by their dead-end service jobs, they spend time driving around in an old Saab and sipping cocktails, while trading stories real and imagined to try to make sense of life.
Countless young readers across North America identified with Coupland's characters when the book came out in 1991, and their story continues to resonate with readers from new generations.
Roland Pemberton (a.k.a. Cadence Weapon) is defending Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture for Canada Reads.
Playlist
When we asked Douglas Coupland for songs that capture the spirit of Generation X, he responded, "The following songs are from tapes I have in a box from that era. They bring back that period in my life."
I Wanna Be Adored by The Stone Roses
Everything Counts by Depeche Mode
No Myth by Michael Penn
You Are the Everything by R.E.M.
So Alive by Love and Rockets
Book Picks
Douglas Coupland's eclectic list of favourite Canadian fiction runs the gamut from song lyrics to graphic novels. (As a bonus, he also cited non-fiction — "all of Marshall McLuhan" — and comedy by The Kids in the Hall.) Take a peek:
Gord Downie's poetry (Coke Machine Glow)
Books
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Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott published by Freehand Books |
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Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner, translated by Lazer Lederhendler published by Vintage/Random House of Canada |
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Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland published by St. Martin's Press/H. B. Fenn and Company Defended by Roland Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon |
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The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy published by Douglas & McIntyre Defended by Samantha Nutt |
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Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald published by Vintage/Random House of Canada |
Cheer
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Fun Facts
1. The word "McJob," which Douglas Coupland popularized by using it in Generation X, became so established that it entered the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in 2003, despite complaints from the McDonald's restaurant chain. British MPs lobbied to get the term removed from the Oxford Dictionary — but to no avail. (Douglas didn't actually coin the term: it first appeared in the Washington Post, in 1986.)
2. Douglas has been chosen to give the Massey Lectures in 2011. Writers and thinkers who have previously taken part in the distinguished series, which is broadcast annually on CBC Radio's Ideas, include Margaret Atwood, Martin Luther King, Jr., Northrop Frye and Jane Jacobs.
3. Douglas's artwork in public spaces includes sculptural installations at a Toronto park, a clock tower and a monument to the War of 1812.
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