I recently read John Leland’s entertaining book, Hip: The History, in which he chronicles what it means to be hip by finding its African origins on the plantations of the 17th century to the hip enclaves in places like Williamsburg, Brooklyn today. He sees that the mixing of groups were instrumental in creating a synthesis of ideas and finds that much of the white co-opting of black culture contributed to this throughout culture from minstrel shows to Elvis to Eminem. New York was often ground zero for new aspects of hipness due to the mixing of immigrants and black. He notes the role of Jewish producers, and songwriters in the role of the Blues and R&B. He looks at different movements like Jazz, bebop, pulp fiction, film noir, and The Beats. I particularly like the chapter, in which he discussed the O.G.s: Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Whitman, who were the literary influence of hipness in American literature. Ralph Ellison and the Beats carry on this tradition. He also notes the importance of trickster, to which he sees manifested in Bugs Bunny-who gets a whole chapter. He also notes the contributions of outsiders like outlaws, gangsters, players, and hustlers. Meanwhile, he notes a connection between hip and consumer culture—the selling of the idea of “hip2 either through records or a fashion, which is sad, but true. William Burroughs selling Nikes and the like. Commercialism and marketing attempt to capture and market hip to use as a selling point, I think is undeniable. It was a well written and researched book that I found to be a compelling read. I plan to write an essay for my American Literature correspondence class on hipness in Modern American Literature,
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