Chemical generation
Encyclopedia
The Chemical Generation refers to a collection of writers in the 1990s who added a literary dimension to the hedonistic ecstasy culture of the era.
In its most singular guise, it could be said to include Irvine Welsh
, Roddy Doyle
, Alan Warner
, John King
, Jeff Noon
, Nicholas Blincoe
, Kevin Williamson
, Gordon Legge
and Laura Hird
- all of whom participated in the survey of the scene carried by the Steve Redhead book for Canongate
, Repetitive Beat Generation. The book's title was an attempt to draw a parallel between the ecstasy culture and the Beat generation
before it.
Key works include Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy and Daren King
's Boxy an Star
. The concept of a group of writers addressing drug culture was further developed in 1997 by Sarah Champion, whose Disco Biscuits became the UK's bestselling fiction anthology of all time. In addition to the authors listed above the book was notable for the inclusion of writers such as Alex Garland
, Bill Drummond
, Will Self
, Grant Morrison
, Esther Freud
, Douglas Coupland
, Neal Stephenson
, Poppy Z. Brite
and Robert Anton Wilson
.
As the relevance of club culture faded with the onset of a return to guitar-based bands in the ascendancy, the writers progressed onto more staple projects, though there was an overlap with many of the writers present in 2000's New Puritans
anthology. Their style and approach has been mirrored among younger British writers however, such as Richard Milward
and Michael Smith
.
In its most singular guise, it could be said to include Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
, Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
, Alan Warner
Alan Warner
Alan Warner , a Scottish novelist, grew up in Connel, near Oban.He is the author of six novels: the acclaimed Morvern Callar , winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; These Demented Lands , winner of the Encore Award; The Sopranos , winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award; The Man...
, John King
John King (author)
John King is an English novelist who has written a number of books which, for the most part, deal in the more rebellious elements driving the country’s culture. His stories carry strong social and political undercurrents, and his debut The Football Factory was an instant word-of-mouth success. It...
, Jeff Noon
Jeff Noon
Jeff Noon is a novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make extensive use of word play and fantasy. Noon's speculative fiction books have ties to the works of writers such as Lewis Carroll and Jorge Luis Borges...
, Nicholas Blincoe
Nicholas Blincoe
Nicholas Blincoe is an English author, critic and screenwriter. He is the author of six novels, Acid Casuals , Jello Salad , Manchester Slingback , The Dope Priest , White Mice , Burning Paris...
, Kevin Williamson
Kevin Williamson
Kevin Meade Williamson is an American screenwriter, best known for the horror films Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty, as well as the popular television series Dawson's Creek and, more recently, The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.-Early life:Williamson was born in New...
, Gordon Legge
Gordon Legge
Gordon E. Legge is currently the Distinguished McKnight University Professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Legge is the director of ....
and Laura Hird
Laura Hird
Laura Hird is a Scottish novelist and short story writer.Hird studied Contemporary Writing at Middlesex Polytechnic and is the author of two novels, Nail and Other Stories and Born Free . Hope and Other Urban Tales, a novella and short story collection, followed in 2006. All her novels and...
- all of whom participated in the survey of the scene carried by the Steve Redhead book for Canongate
Canongate Books
Canongate Books is a Scottish independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh; it is named for The Canongate, an area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner Life of Pi...
, Repetitive Beat Generation. The book's title was an attempt to draw a parallel between the ecstasy culture and the Beat generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
before it.
Key works include Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy and Daren King
Daren King
Laurence Daren King is an award-winning contemporary English novelist. His debut novel, Boxy an Star, was shortlisted for the 1999 Guardian First Book Award and longlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize. He won first prize in the Nestle Children's Book Prize in 2006...
's Boxy an Star
Boxy an Star
Boxy an Star is the first novel by English author Daren King. It was shortlisted for the 1999 Guardian First Book Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize...
. The concept of a group of writers addressing drug culture was further developed in 1997 by Sarah Champion, whose Disco Biscuits became the UK's bestselling fiction anthology of all time. In addition to the authors listed above the book was notable for the inclusion of writers such as Alex Garland
Alex Garland
Alexander Medawar "Alex" Garland is a British novelist and screenwriter.-Early life:Garland was born in London, England, the son of psychoanalyst Caroline and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland. His maternal grandparents were zoologist Peter Medawar and author Jean Medawar...
, Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
, Will Self
Will Self
William Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time...
, Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
, Esther Freud
Esther Freud
Esther Freud is a British novelist.-Life and career:Born in London, Freud is the daughter of painter Lucian Freud and Bernadine Coverley and is a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. She travelled extensively with her mother as a child, and returned to London at the age of sixteen to train as an...
, Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and...
, Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk...
, Poppy Z. Brite
Poppy Z. Brite
Poppy Z. Brite is an American author. Brite initially achieved notoriety in the gothic horror genre of literature in the early 1990s after publishing a string of successful novels and short story collections...
and Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
.
As the relevance of club culture faded with the onset of a return to guitar-based bands in the ascendancy, the writers progressed onto more staple projects, though there was an overlap with many of the writers present in 2000's New Puritans
New Puritans
The New Puritans was a literary movement ascribed to the contributors to a 2000 anthology of short stories entitled All Hail the New Puritans, edited by Nicholas Blincoe and Matt Thorne. The project is said to have been inspired by the Dogme 95 manifesto for cinematic minimalism and authenticity...
anthology. Their style and approach has been mirrored among younger British writers however, such as Richard Milward
Richard Milward
Richard Milward is an English writer born in Middlesbrough, in 1984. His debut novel Apples was published by Faber and Faber in 2007. He has also recently published his 2nd novel Ten Storey Love Song....
and Michael Smith
Michael Smith (writer)
Michael Smith is an author and broadcaster best known for Citizen Smith, a series examining what it means to be English ; Michael Smith's Drivetime, a six-part road movie exploring the cultural impact of the car ; and A Journey Back to Newcastle: Michael Smith's Deep North .Both series were...
.