For one thing the materialistic types are dominant, cities are in, country, romance and ideals are out. So Anne and Richard are more the outcasts, the doubters of what you could call the fading, falling regime of wealth and materialism. In addition there are are Geoffrey and Marie-Louise, who could have been interviewed in the latest Gothic Beauty for all their similarity to those ideals. Geoffrey is intensely gloomy, and Marie-Louise is expressive and creative, but very dark as well, somewhat of a flapper. (Did you know flappers used to carry dolls around with them? Especially to parties.) I have been thinking a lot about the Gothic movement, which as I define it consists entirely of Gen-Xers. I have been interested in how people become so gothic in the 80's with no evidence of that subculture before. If history repeats itself, surely that kind of culture existed once before, and I am looking for it in other saecular autumns. So I am wondering if I see it in Mistress Anne, or if I am reading too much.
I am nearly done with Mistress Anne now, and I am constantly fascinated with what I see as generational differences between the characters, as well as a separation in the present generation. This book was published in 1917. The generation coming-of-age at this time is Nomadic. I see some really interesting parallels between this and Generation X.