Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge

From Publishers Weekly
Stover (The Bombshell Manual of Style) wrote her playful anthropology of Bohemian culture from an insider’s viewpoint. The daughter of Bohemians, at one time a fully practicing Bohemian, and a now a Bohemian "with some bourgeois pretense," she is clearly steeped in the lifestyle. In this book, she documents the most important attributes of the five variations of Bohemians (Nouveau, Gypsy, Beat, Zen and Dandy) and of Bohemian philosophy generally, beginning with a "diagnosis" that serves mostly to emphasize how varied Bohemians are and how fiercely they resist any kind of classification. Stover is fully aware of the futile nature of her quest to pin down such elusive characters, and her writing is accordingly ironic, full of asides and amusing pseudo-scholarly footnotes. The book’s four main parts describe Bohemians in all their counterculture splendor, with short sections on everything from typical Bohemian names ("they name their offspring with the same whimsical sensibility with which they name their pets"), clothes, typical relationships, choice of reading material and music, and eating habits (featuring "The Twenty-Four-Hour Menu of the Starving Bohemian"). In fictionalized profiles of nine Bohemians from around the world, including Dantini the septuagenarian magician and Atlas the Dutch artist, Stover brings these unusual figures to life in a wonderfully familiar way. True Bohemians certainly won’t need this book to decide whether they’re Bohemian, but may enjoy these humorous takes on their subculture, and non-Bohemians will find it a delightful introduction to that unique existence.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Bohemianism is a way of life, a state of mind, an atmosphere. It is not a trend, its a timeless movement. It is about living beyond convention. BOHEMIAN MANIFESTO explores and joyfully celebrates the creativity, the originality, and the splendor of a lifestyle and spirit shared by free-thinking, free-living artists, poets, writers, sculptors, musicians, and intellectuals. This is the first book to distill and categorize all the ingredients of Bohemian life. In a witty and engaging style, Laren Stover examines the contents of a Bohemians closet, bathroom, and bookshelf. She explains the allure of absinthe, why it isnt wise to leave a Bohemian unattended in your home--you could return to find nude nymphs painted on your lamp shades--and how to identify what type of Bohemian you might be.


About the Author
Laren Stover is the author of The Bombshell Manual of Style and a novel, Pluto, Animal Lover, a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers award. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Bomb, and the New York Observer. She lives in New York.


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This is the first book to distill and categorize all the ingredients of Bohemian life. In a witty and engaging style, Laren Stover examines the contents of a Bohemian's closet, bathroom, and bookshelf. She explains the allure of absinthe, why it isn't wise to leave a Bohemian unattended in your home--you could return to find nude nymphs painted on your lamp shades--and how to identify what type of Bohemian you might be.


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices