X = What?

This book discusses Douglas Coupland s first fourfull-length novels: Generation X, Shampoo Planet,Microserfs, and Girlfriend in a Coma. In each ofthese novels, Coupland contemplates the fraughtrelationship between Generation X and postmodernirony. Coupland s characters struggle to findmeaning and sincerity in a realm where advertisingand consumerism are ubiquitous and nearly allaspects of life are commodified. The ultimateconsequence of the alienation and apathy thatresults from such rampant materialism is theemergence of an idiom that privileges irony overaffect. For Coupland, the prevalence of this ironyis the most problematic aspect of postmodernsociety, and it is a force his characters grapplewith and resist in each of his works. Consideredindividually, each of Coupland s first four novelsportrays a different subset of Generation X and adifferent approach to irony. Considered together,they form a trajectory that culminates in an escapefrom, rather than an espousal of, irony.

Klappentext
This book discusses Douglas Coupland's first four full-length novels: Generation X, Shampoo Planet, Microserfs, and Girlfriend in a Coma. In each of these novels, Coupland contemplates the fraught relationship between Generation X and postmodern irony. Coupland's characters struggle to find meaning and sincerity in a realm where advertising and consumerism are ubiquitous and nearly all aspects of life are commodified. The ultimate consequence of the alienation and apathy that results from such rampant materialism is the emergence of an idiom that privileges irony over affect. For Coupland, the prevalence of this irony is the most problematic aspect of postmodern society, and it is a force his characters grapple with and resist in each of his works. Considered individually, each of Coupland's first four novels portrays a different subset of Generation X and a different approach to irony. Considered together, they form a trajectory that culminates in an escape from, rather than an espousal of, irony.