Douglas Coupland is a sculptor, a furniture-maker, a student of Japanese business, a futurist, and the author, most famously, of Generation X. Written in 1991 Generation X became gospel for rootless youth and an easy ride for mass media, despite Coupland's own studied indifference to its success.
With a perverse taste that only a Canadian could have for American pop culture, Douglas Coupland has made a literary project out of capturing a certain brand of middle-class ennui and ersatz emotion. His book titles alone betray his preoccupations: Shampoo Planet, Life After God, Microserfs, Polaroids From The Dead, and Girfriend in a Coma. His new novel is Miss Wyoming, about an ex-beauty queen turned second-tier sitcom star and her star-crossed soul mate, Hollywood producer John Johnson. Has Gen X managed to prolong its adolescence? (Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
