Welcome to Vintage Contemporary!
A newsletter about books from the 80s and 90s and contemporary culture
Welcome to Vintage Contemporary, a newsletter and book club about about the stylish, Lorraine Louie designed Vintage Contemporaries of the 80s and 90s, and how the stories in the imprint relate to the real anxieties and desires of our current world. đ
Each edition will explore a different release as I seek to understand the present through the fictionalized past. While Iâll be doing most of the writing, this is also a book club. I hope to conduct interviews with friends and chat with you as you read along! đ
Launched in 1984 by Gary Fisketjon, Vintage Contemporaries output ranges from dated paperbacks to âconsequential contemporary American literature.â It features some of my favorite books by dirty realists Raymond Carver and Denis Johnson and oddballs like Joy Williams and Nicholson Baker.
The surreal science textbook, pre-cyber vibe of the covers is really what first drew me in. Finding them in any used book store feels like winning a scratch-off.
The first one I ever read was Carverâs What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. It happened while I was working at a local newspaper right out of college, conducting interviews of other Texansâ-mostly local business owners.
I was instantly hooked by the cover, a melancholic woman staring down a rotary phone, and Carverâs heartbreaking, minimalist prose. I truly loved the whole thing, especially how it both fulfilled and challenged my idea of what the 1980s actually were like. Stories like Why Donât You Dance and Gazebo reanimated a materially bygone Suburban America, and sharpened a sensibility for funny mundane moments. In a way, it even conditioned me to interview differentlyâencouraging speculation about what happens on the other side of their closed doors. It made me love Carver. I donât think Iâm alone in this
Iâve since read more, but am eager to build my collection and finally start getting to the bottom of things.
Iâm approaching this non-scholarly investigation of pre-2000 Vintage Contemporaries, our current era, and myself carrying a few beliefs, desires, and questionsâŚ
This is not just an escape into the pastâŚ
Though I love the music, fashion, literature, and films produced during this era, and find a lot about our current time to be terrible (including the state of many contemporary book covers), this project has a multi-dimensional relationship to time. âłđ°ď¸
The term Vintage Contemporary itself reminds us of an interesting perma-tension between the past and the present; as entities that coincide.
That being saidâŚ
The golden age of Vintage Contemporaries is worth investigating not only because they include the work of so many âmastersâ but also because they collectively seem to capture the zeitgeist of the 80s, and probably the early 90s too. Iâm interested in having fun while surfacing connections and distinctions between this period and today.
My current research questions đľđťââď¸
Literary readings are having a moment: What other parallels exist between the 80s/90s era and today? Whatâs different?
From dirty realism to real affairs: what kind of cultural and literary impact do VCâs have ?
Through depicting everyday mundanity, how do certain Vintage Contemporaries compare to our current obsession with documenting and sharing our daily experiences?
Things kinda suck rn: Was the end of the 20th century, articulated through Vintage Contemporaries, actually better?
How do the anxieties of the 80s/90s resonate with ours today?
If weâre all doomedâwhat for?
What is a tech-curious ludditeâs âhappy mediumâ?
How does the Vintage Contemporary imprint relate to my own life? lol
What can we learn from Lorraine Louie's cohesive vision?
We're living in a visual age, so why are so many book covers so boring?
The 80s, 90s, and today: tired radio tagline, or Mark Fisher quote?
Desires â¤ď¸âđĽ đď¸ đŤ§
Understand present trends through thinking about the past
Become a better writer through close reading; avoid iPad baby dysregulation
Understand the trajectory of the literary novel/short story post âpaperback revolutionâ
Identify traits all Vintage Contemporaries share
Start a book club/ get more people to read/engage with OG Vintage Contemporaries with me đŤ đ§âđ¤âđ§đŹđ
Imagine a better world đ
More coming soon :-)
I am in no way affiliated with Vintage Books btw