HIPSTAMARATHON

My first homework in the US of A

James Baldwin - The New Lost generation

The new lost generation is a story which owes everything to the title, it is truly about a generation which has lost itself both personally and in the context of the rest of the world. We are presented with the story of a young African-American male trying to fit into a society which he in some way despises, but when he is taken away from that society freely he patronizes his new country for not offering the same luxuries which the former did. To writers everywhere, the dream of losing yourself in Paris is attractive. Yet we realize that changing your environment may just confuse you as well as disorienting your personal values and wants. This is apparent at first, but we find out later on that this change is credited with changing Baldwin for the better as well as creating a real freedom of mind. The story introduces us to individuals with dreams of love, poetry and utopia. These dreams are quickly and brutally suppressed by the population of New York City in cooperation with the generalizations of the latter.
A part of me despises this dream of losing yourself in a city for the sake of your own creativity. Even so, I can’t hold back the part of me that dream of the exact same thing which Baldwin did. The beauty in finding a new place for your mind to move freely in. A place for a young man lost.