Past! Future! In Extreme
Looking for Meaning in the “New Romantics,” 1978–82
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10064335 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Worley (0000-0002-3049-8714, University of Reading, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 542-567 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of British Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9371 • E-ISSN: 1545-6986 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/jbr.2024.57 |
| OpenAlex | W4399227957 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 4 |
First used in 1980, “new romantics” was a term applied to describe a British youth culture recognized initially for its sartorial extravagance and penchant for electronic music. Closely associated with the Blitz nightclub in London's Covent Garden (as well as milieus elsewhere in the UK), new romantics appeared to signal a break from the prescribed aesthetics and sensibilities of punk, rejecting angry oppositionism for glamour and aspiration. In response, cultural commentators have often sought to establish connections between new romantism and the advent of Thatcherism and “the 1980s.” This article challenges such an interpretation, offering a more complex analysis of new romanticism rooted in nascent readings of postmodernism. It also shifts our understandings of the periodization of postwar British history and the concept of “popular individualism,” arguing that youth culture provides invaluable insight both to broader processes of sociocultural change and to the construction of the (post)modern self
Epistemology · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · History · Philosophy · Poetry Analysis and Criticism
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |