Bohemia: The Protoculture Then and Now

by Richard Connelly Miller

Locates the roots of the bohemian tradition in the early nineteenth century and traces the course and assesses the significance of its mutation into the protoculture

392 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1978

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am definitely enjoying this book. I feel like I am learning about the history of artists and bohemia, and incidental other little trivia. A lot of personal details, a lot of artistic & historical details, and put together in a way as to make it interesting. Still in the early chapters on early Parisian bohemian history (I've read Victor Hugo through Murger right now) and very much can't wait to read more. ...


Finished it. Horrible last few chapters. Stopped being funny in how obviously it was written in the 70s and started being a combination of sad, inaccurate, and overblown. The history sections were very good, the philosophy, and guesses about the future not so good.

[lyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some interesting ideas, particularly that Bohemian aesthetic values can and should become a the basis of a positive cultural transformation. However the author's language is overdone. He also does not develop many of his brash offhanded assertions sufficiently for them to be persuasive, even to a sympathetic reader. D. Paul Schafer espouses some of the same core ideas in his Revolution or Renaissance with a more sober pen, but his treatment is pedantic and doesn't invoke the Bohemian driving force at all, even though it is both pertinent and cool.