The Other Serious: Essays for the New American Generation

by Christy Wampole

An original collection of incandescent cultural criticism, both experimental and personal, full of pragmatic advice for how to live a considered, joyful existence in our era of screen living and hipster irony, by a Gen-X Princeton professor and contributor to The New York Times The essays in The Other Serious examine the signature phenomena of our the way our lives contradict themselves, how exaggeration and excess seep into our collective subconscious, why gender is becoming more rather than less complicated, and how we interact with the material things that surround us. It is a book about the delicacy and bluntness of American life, about how pop culture sticks its finger deeply into the ethical dilemmas of our time, and how to negotiate between the old and the new, the high and the low, the global and the local, the sacred and the profane. At the heart of these reflections lies a central What should you do when you don't know what to do? Taken together, these essays comprise a guide for the overhaul of "the administrativersity" of contemporary American life, a bureaucratic prison where the brain needn't work anymore. These pieces investigate the writer's own way of thinking—putting forth new ideas, questioning them, and urging the reader to adopt the same spirit of critical reexamination.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2015

About the author

Christy Wampole is an assistant professor of French literature at Princeton University. In 2011, she obtained her Ph.D. in the Department of French and Italian at Stanford University. She is interested in the essay form and all its possibilities.

Reviews

[firuza huseynova · Rating 4 out of 5]

the best remedy to ironic living since david foster wallace !! and a beautiful articulation of all the silly contradictions in life - in/out, high/low, concentrated/distracted, sincere/ironic

highly highly recommend christy wampoles essay ‘How to Live Without Irony’ - its not included in this hook book its online at the new york times. absolutely life changing when i first read it and i keep rereading it and finding something new that resonates with me

[Threaded · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Left me with a lot to think about, especially on the cultural criticism front. It also made me want to keep writing. This is a great collection of essays for people who are smart and aware, people who like both "high" and "low" culture, people who think philosophically about everyday life.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really sad that I finished this book. The ideas, themes, and philosophies discussed jump around in my head continuously.

The Other Serious is truly remarkable and a very important book.

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a truly disappointing book, both from an authorial point of view and the writing. First, the author's point of view. One of the first essays, "The Great American Irony Binge," is written as if Wampole has lived off the grid for the last two decades and suddenly decided to "catch up" on television viewing from the 90's. She mentions Beavis and Butthead, South Park, The Simpsons, etc., and uses it as examples of the impending ironic age to come. David Foster Wallace wrote about this in the early 90's and there have been scores of examples since then. This is not new, nor is it particularly relevant or interesting two decades later. The lack of original ideas can be mitigated by lyrical, witty or memorable writing. However, Wampole has several annoying writerly ticks that absolutely kill the narrative propulsion of the essays. First, she loves to tell us the derivation of words: (the Latin root voider means "to see"); The word "explode" and the word "applause" share the Latin root plaudere, which means "to clap;" It is worth noting that the word "barbarian' comes from a root that means stammering or stuttering; The word's early Greek root eironeia means dissimulation; the Greek sarkazein, from which the word "sarcasm" derives; The Latin vulnerabilis means wounded, injurious) All of this in the first 55 pages! Just as annoying is her tendency to qualify her opinions ("It is perhaps rather a quantitative question; Maybe we want to see the worst possible version of ourselves; Perhaps it's merely a taste question...) except when she goes out slightly out on a limb to state that children are entering puberty earlier "probably because of the hormones in food or some other such human-initiated change to the biologic fabric of the body." Probably not. This is incredibly sophomoric and downright ignorant. There is no credible medical research that supports this assertion and imagine if you decide to follow the logic of that statement all the while ignoring a potentially serious medical problem while trying to feed your child hormone-free food and wondering why she is still developing adult female sex characteristics. Here are some other absolutely bizarre sentences: "When one is constantly watching oneself, waiting to document the next move for posterity, the one being watched becomes hesitant. Being observed makes one fidgety yet constipative, eager to do something--the right thing--but at a loss as to exactly what thing might be." Huh? I would recommend if one feels like they need to fix their fidgety, constipative nature and are wondering what to do--take Milk of Magnesia. It will help alleviate those symptoms. And amazingly on page 174, constipative rears itself again: " His self-consciousness has made him existentially constipative." How tragic, someone must now suffer the horrors of constipation outside his/her physical body. I guess this profound sentence originated after the author read a "Shit Happens" bumper sticker. Don't snicker. There are examples in her writing of the bumper stickers she has read. Or how about this ditty: "I wonder for a moment if dogs find it funny when humans imitate some canine gesture. Probably not." And my closing argument, "Wrinkly people are awesome." Totally dude. Gag me with a spoon.
I would love to know the editor who approved the final copy of the manuscript before it got published. He/She should probably not list this as one of their better editing moments.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Today's post is on The Other Serious: Essays for the New American Generation by Christy Wampole. It is 288 pages long and is published by HarperCollins. It is a stand alone series of essays. The cover is white and black stripes in the shape of the American flag. The intended reader is someone interested in modern culture and essays. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. The essays are written from first person perspective of the author. There Be Spoilers Ahead.


From the back of the book- The essays in The Other Serious examine the signature phenomena of our moment: the way our lives contradict themselves, how exaggeration and excess seep into our collective subconscious, why gender is becoming more rather than less complicated, and how we interact with the material things that surround us. It is a book about the delicacy and bluntness of American life, how pop culture sticks its finger deeply into the ethical dilemmas of our time, and how to negotiate between the old and new, the high and low, the global and local, the sacred and profane. At the heart of these reflections lies a central question: What should you do when you don't know what to do?

Taken together, these essays comprise a razor-sharp critique of "the administrativesity" of contemporary American life- the idea that we exist in a constant state of escapism and self-protection, fearing confrontation and embracing randomness and absurdity. These pieces investigate the writer's own way of thinking- putting forth new ideas, questioning them, and urging the reader to adopt the same spirit of re-examination. Full of sage advice and staggering insights, The Other Serious offers us a new understanding of the everyday.


Review- This was a very boring book. I could not you tell anything that I found interesting or insightful or staggering. I was bored for the whole book. There is nothing bad about this book, the author did not offend or annoy me but she did not inform or entertain me. She writes about everything from movies to how different ages interact with each other. The best thing I can say about this book is that she did not offend me. maybe i am just not the right reader for this book. If you like essays about philosophy and modern life then try this one. If not then skip.


I give this book a Two out of Five stars. I was given a copy of this book by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of essays on the topic of this generation's world view-told by an author who bridges Gen-X and the Milennials. She teaches at Princeton and has really tapped into both generation's perspective. the most interesting chapters cover topics such as their ironic view of the world, which fuels the hipster/cool nerd perspective, as well as the distraction of everyday wired life and how it affects everything. Very insightful and more in-depth than most of the puff pieces you see on the internet about Millenials.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange essay collection that almost felt like it had been hidden in a drawer since the late 1990’s and recently rediscovered. It addresses a variety of issues close to Gen-Xer’s hearts, including the inescapable intrusion of technology, the hidden benefits of boredom, and the movie Labyrinth.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

a grand try for debut essays on usa life and some ideas of modernity, digital world, human interpersonal relationships, dumbing down, generational issues. see some other gr's reviews, the 5 stars and the 1 stars for what is right and what is wrong about this collection.

[Susan Csoke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of individual stories from the writers view. Entertaining, Interesting >lots of sage advice. Christy Wampole teaches us how to live a joyful existence in todays world.!!!! THANK YOU GOODREADS FIRST READS FOR THIS FREE BOOK!!!!

[Christian Hamaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good enough, but I wasn't thinking this was a keeper. And then I got to "Southern Niceness," pp. 149-163 of the hardback edition. There's no way I'm giving this book back now. It's going on the shelf, part of my permanent - and growing - group of essay collections.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Must read the essay about ironic living.