What Imaginary Literary Movement Are You?

[jdbl]

Less a manifesto than the answer to a stupid internet quiz that exists only in my head, about imaginary literary movements, and how in twenty questions or less you could be assigned an imaginary literary movement at random, with code to post in your blog and a big pretty picture to clutter up the feeds of all your friends, I tell you now that if I were an imaginary literary movement, I would be:

New Romanticism!

If it existed, the features of New Romanticism might include:

• creates the illusion of "real" people, rather than the characters being ideas or conceptual placeholders; "character-driven"; suggests that personality is real and stable, though possibly shifting.



• upholds the notion that individuals, acting alone or in groups, can make an impact on the world for good or ill; individual choices and actions have purpose and meaning; characters are frequently larger-than-life or extraordinary in some way.



• sees beauty as having an inherent aesthetic value.



• rejects dualism in favor of greater nuance.



• values individuality; values "liberty", creativity, choice, freedom.



• critiques or at least questions the socioeconomic status quo.



• utilizes one or more features of postmodernism, such as blending genres, blending media, intentional anachronism, elements of the fantastic, multiple or shifting points of view, appropriation of other sources (i.e. "stealing" characters/elements of other works/brand names and so forth), direct address by a smart-ass narrator, etc.



• questions or problematizes technology.



• exhibits an excessiveness of language, plot, emotion, descriptions, drama, etc.; goes "over-the-top".



• displays humanist tendencies; values equality, rejects bigotry of all kinds, values justice.

Obviously, any given work might not have all of these features.  How many New Romantic features a given work must display in order to be considered an example of the movement is left as an exercise for the student.

I was thinking about this on the bus the other day, but yes, I am procrastinating from working on the Cartier project. How did you know?

Comments

Interesting list

[gilded-kage.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Blackheart Fleet fits most of these...

[katharine-b.livejournal.com]

Oooh, neat -- I just responded to this in my journal. (My movement would be Retroclassicism, I've decided.)

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

I salute you, my sister, for in reading your list I realize that I too am a New Romantic!

All we need now are passwords, buzzwords, and possibly safewords.