Theory: The Haunting Dread -- The Zeitgeist of Modern America.
wendigomountain (Clint Harris) has a post up here describing this nameless DREAD, this underlying tension that haunts him from time to time. It brought back some of the old debates on Broken Circles.
Here is my response:
"...a ways back there was a place called Broken Circles (now defunct) where a lot of writers and critics that wanted to turn things on their heads got together. They were all writing the same sort of fiction in parallel, but without intending to be -- semi-fantasy, semi-horror, semi-literary, dark, surreal. The one thing in common was this all-pervading sense of dread.
I think it ties into what you're talking about here. I know I wake up every day and wish I could pull up roots. My job doesn't pay the bills either. I feel trapped. Disconnected from family, friends. Bored, but a terrifying type of boredom.
I think it's the zeitgeist of modern America, where we've siloed ourselves away from everyone else and doped ourselves numb on television... That we are all empty and hungry for something, but we don't know what, so we buy the next toy or gadget or got out and eat a ton of food or (in my case) start the next hobby but we secretly fear there might not be anything to fill the void. But that's just my theory."
Here is my response:
"...a ways back there was a place called Broken Circles (now defunct) where a lot of writers and critics that wanted to turn things on their heads got together. They were all writing the same sort of fiction in parallel, but without intending to be -- semi-fantasy, semi-horror, semi-literary, dark, surreal. The one thing in common was this all-pervading sense of dread.
I think it ties into what you're talking about here. I know I wake up every day and wish I could pull up roots. My job doesn't pay the bills either. I feel trapped. Disconnected from family, friends. Bored, but a terrifying type of boredom.
I think it's the zeitgeist of modern America, where we've siloed ourselves away from everyone else and doped ourselves numb on television... That we are all empty and hungry for something, but we don't know what, so we buy the next toy or gadget or got out and eat a ton of food or (in my case) start the next hobby but we secretly fear there might not be anything to fill the void. But that's just my theory."