Douglas Coupland at the Edinburgh Book Festival

Generation X Author Appears at Literary Event in Scotland

Sep 1, 2009 Kevin Sturton

Cult novelist Douglas Coupland appeared at the Edinburgh Book Festival and entertained the audience with readings from his new novel Generation A.

Douglas Coupland, author of the seminal 1991 novel Generation X, appeared at the Edinburgh Book Festival and turned the usual format for these events on its head. Normally the author is interviewed in a Q & A then fields questions from the audience. Coupland diverted from formula by reading from his new book Generation A and insisting the audience have their mobile phones switched on.

The Mobile Sonata

Normally events like these are preceded by a reminder or warning for audiences to switch their mobile phones off. A message on the screen written by Coupland explained post-its would be handed out for members of the audience to take down the numbers of the person sitting next to them. Then everybody would call each other at the same time leading to a chorus of ring-tones.

Fans of Coupland will be well aware of his fascination for technologies and how they affect our place in the world. The mobile sonata was inspired by the Columbine High School Massacre and police describing the sound of mobile phones ringing as they moved through the buildings as sounding like “tropical birds,” Here, in the RBS main events tent, the mobile sonata sounded more like, well, a bunch of mobile phones ringing in a very large tent, but it was an inventive way to begin the event.

Coupland Reads From Generation A

Coupland then read a couple of stories from Generation A; the first of which, described Superman's fall from grace after being chastised by members of the public for attempting to wipe tar off his feet using a synthetic shirt dipped in petrol. Having conquered all the super-villains, Superman is extraneous to requirements being unable to help fight against climate change and ends up spending his days drinking Kryptonite cocktails in a bar tended by Yoda from Star Wars (George Lucas 1977).

Coupland ran out of time before he could finish the second story, about a Princess shocked by her father's confession that he does not believe in anything. Paul Johnston was clearly eager to get Coupland to sit down and talk about his work

Douglas Coupland in Q & A with Paul Johnston

Johnston had very little time left to quiz Coupland, but got some interesting answers about the writing of Generation A. Inspired by the recent discovery that the bees are disappearing, Coupland thought we were wasting this planet's resources. Coupland described Generation A as a transitional book, something to work on while he planned his next project, a biography of the cultural critic Marshall McLuhan. Coupland explained McLuhan was probably autistic, a condition that led Coupland to study how the human brain works. Essentially it is a computer, hard-wired to function in a particular way, but capable of being subverted by drugs or emotional experiences.

Coupland on God, Twitter, and Vegetarian Haggis

Coupland's background is from Scottish Calvinist stock, real hellfire and brimstone types, with a “grimness” inside them his parents had no wish to pass on to their children. Despite this Coupland admitted he is susceptible to religious thought. Even though advancements in medical science can tell us so much these days how our brains work, Coupland still believes in some kind of higher power.

The hour allocated to this session passed all too quickly, but Coupland proved an illuminating interview, entertaining the audience with his musings about a variety of subjects, including the vegetarian version of haggis, Twitter (like a hula hoop) and his brief stint working for television on an adaptation of his novel J-Pod.

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