Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits, with few permanent ties. Bohemians can be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabonds.
The term
bohemian, of French origin, was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the non-traditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished
artists,
writers,
journalists,
musicians, and
actors in major European cities. Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints, which were often expressed through
free love,
frugality, and/or
voluntary poverty.
The term emerged in
France in the early 19th century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class
gypsy neighborhoods. The term
bohémien was a common term for the
Romani people of France, who had reached Western Europe via
Bohemia.
Origin of term
Literary
Bohemians were associated in the French imagination with roving Gypsies (called
bohemians because they were believed to have arrived from
Bohemia), outsiders apart from conventional society and untroubled by its disapproval. The term carries a connotation of arcane enlightenment (the opposite of
Philistines), and also carries a less frequently intended, pejorative connotation of carelessness about personal hygiene and marital fidelity. The Spanish gypsy in the French opera
Carmen set in
Seville, is referred to as a
bohémienne in Meilhac and Halévy's libretto (1875).
Henri Murger's collection of short stories
Scènes de la Vie de Bohème (
Scenes of Bohemian Life), published in 1845, was written to glorify and legitimize Bohemia. Murger's collection formed the basis of
Giacomo Puccini's
opera La bohème (1896). (Puccini's work, in turn, became
Jonathan Larson's source material for the
musical Rent, later a
feature film of the same name. Like Puccini, Larson explores a Bohemian enclave in a dense urban area, in this case,
New York City at the end of the 20th century. The show features a song, "
La Vie Boheme," which celebrates
postmodern Bohemian culture.)
In English,
Bohemian in this sense was initially popularized in
William Makepeace Thackeray's novel,
Vanity Fair, published in 1848. Public perceptions of the alternative life-styles supposedly led by artists were further molded by
George du Maurier's highly romanticized best-selling novel of Bohemian culture
Trilby (1894). The novel outlines the fortunes of three expatriate English artists, their Irish model, and two very colorful Eastern European musicians, in the artists' quarter of Paris.
In Spanish literature, the Bohemian impulse can be seen in
Ramón del Valle-Inclán's play
Luces de Bohemia (
Bohemian Lights), published in 1920.
American bohemianism
In 1845, Bohemian nationals began to emigrate to the United States, and from 1848 the wave included some of the radicals and ex-priests who had wanted a constitutional government. In New York City in 1857, a group of some 15–20 young, cultured journalists flourished as self-described "Bohemians" until the
American Civil War began in 1860.
[The Mark Twain Project. Retrieved on July 26, 2009.] Similar groups in other cities were broken up as well—reporters spread out to report on the conflict. During the war, correspondents began to assume the title "Bohemian," and newspapermen in general took up the moniker. "Bohemian" became synonymous with "newspaper writer".
[ In 1866, war correspondent Junius Henri Browne who wrote for the New York Tribune and Harper's Magazine described as "Bohemian" journalists such as himself as well as the few carefree women and lighthearted men he encountered during the war years.]
thumb|upright=1.5|left|Bohemian Grove during the summer Hi-Jinks, circa 1911-1916San Francisco journalist Bret Harte first wrote as "The Bohemian" in The Golden Era in 1861, with this persona taking part in many satirical doings, the lot published in his book Bohemian Papers in 1867. Harte wrote "Bohemia has never been located geographically, but any clear day when the sun is going down, if you mount Telegraph Hill, you shall see its pleasant valleys and cloud-capped hills glittering in the West..."[Ogden, Dunbar H.; Douglas McDermott; Robert Károly Sarlós , Rodopi, 1990, pp. 17–42. ISBN 9051831250] Mark Twain included himself and Charles Warren Stoddard in the Bohemian category in 1867.[ By 1872, when a group of journalists and artists who gathered regularly for cultural pursuits in San Francisco were casting about for a name, the term "Bohemian" became the main choice, and the Bohemian Club was born. Club members who were established and successful, pillars of their community, respectable family men, redefined their own form of bohemianism to include people who were bons vivants, sportsmen, and appreciators of the fine arts.][ Club member and poet George Sterling responded to this redefinition:]
Despite his views, Sterling associated very closely with the Bohemian Club, and caroused with artist and industrialist alike at the Bohemian Grove.
thumb|upright=1.5|The Lark, March 1, 1896./" class="wiki">Gelett Burgess drew this fanciful "Map of Bohemia" for The Lark, March 1, 1896.
The impish American writer and Bohemian Club member Gelett Burgess, who coined the word "blurb" among other things, supplied this description of the amorphous place called Bohemia:
In New York City, an organization of musicians was formed in 1907 by pianist Rafael Joseffy with friends such as Rubin Goldmark, called the "The Bohemians (New York Musicians' Club)".People
The term has become associated with various artistic or academic communities and is used as a generalized adjective describing such people, environs, or situations: bohemian (boho—informal) is defined in The American College Dictionary as "a person with artistic or intellectual tendencies, who lives and acts with no regard for conventional rules of behavior."
Many prominent European and American figures of the last 150 years belonged to the bohemian counterculture, and any comprehensive 'list of bohemians' would be tediously long. Bohemianism has been approved of by some bourgeois writers such as Honoré de Balzac, but most conservative cultural critics do not condone bohemian lifestyles.
The New York Times columnist David Brooks contends that much of the cultural ethos of upper-class Americans is Bohemian-derived, coining the paradoxical term "Bourgeois Bohemians" or "Bobos."
The Bombshell Manual of Style author, Laren Stover, breaks down the Bohemian into five distinct mind-sets/styles in Bohemian Manifesto: a Field Guide to Living on the Edge. The Bohemian is "not easily classified like species of birds," writes Stover, noting that there are crossovers and hybrids. The five types are:
- Nouveau:- bohemians with money who attempt to join traditional bohemianism with contemporary culture
- Gypsy:- drifters, neo-hippies, and others with nostalgia for previous, romanticized eras
- Beat:- also drifters, but non-materialist and art-focused
- Zen:- "post-beat," focus on spirituality rather than art
- Dandy:- no money, but try to appear as if they have it by expensive or rare items - such as brands of alcohol
In the United States, the bohemian impulse can be seen in the 1960s hippie counterculture (which was in turn informed by the Beat generation via writers such as William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac).
Rainbow Gatherings may be seen as another contemporary worldwide expression of the bohemian impulse.Bohemian communities in the past
By extension, Bohemia meant any place where one could live and work cheaply, and behave unconventionally; a community of free souls beyond the pale of respectable society. Several cities and neighborhoods came to be associated with bohemianism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:
In Europe: Montmartre and Montparnasse in Paris; Chelsea, Fitzrovia, and Soho in London; Schwabing in Munich; Skadarlija in Belgrade; Tabán in Budapest.
In the United States: Greenwich Village in New York City.See also
Related terms
Related cultures or movements
