Some of the chapters consist in Klosterman narrating official history. Chuck Klosterman manages this conundrum by taking a step back in certain essays and explaining things the we way still collectively remember them. Talking about the nineties is complicated for two reasons: 1) Some of its important moments still have a colossal impact on our daily lives in 2022 and 2) Half of it happened in a world that doesn’t exist anymore, so it’s hard for certain people to understand how far it is from how we live our life now. It is not really revisionist or nostalgic, although you could say revisiting the nineties while trying to emulate its thinking is an exercise in nostalgia in itself. Nevermind, the O.J Simpson saga, Oprah Winfrey, Alan Greenspan, Bill Clinton’s presidency, etc. On the surface, The Nineties is very much what it claims to be: a books that explores a series of political and cultural occurrences that dictated what was deemed (and what is still deemed) important about the last decade of the twentieth century. But I do feel more informed about who I am, where I’m from and what the fuck’s wrong with the world. I don’t know if it made me feel better about myself yet. It’s been a couple years since I experienced one of these highs, but I definitely had one reading Chuck Klosterman’s new book The Nineties. In some cases it’s true, but the gap is slowly closing with years with the help of technology and the exodus of talent towards newer mediums. That a great book is SUCH a better trip than any movie or television series will ever be. Among casuals, it is inherently perceived to be the ultimate way to engage with information or entertainment. Reading is a heavily romanticized activity in general. What's complicated about the 1990s is that the central illusion is the memory itself. There's always a disconnect between the world we seem to remember and the world that actually was.
0 kommentar(er)
