Part of the lag between my recent posts has been my recent move back to the U.S. after a year and a half in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I wanted to be a flaneur in a cheap, hip city that would let me enact my Gertrude Stein dreams while was still young, childless, and relatively untethered to life in the U.S. I was lured by the number of times that I’d read that Buenos Aires was “to the ’00s what Paris was to the ’20s,” envisioning a vibrant cultural scene and the next Fitzgerald and Hemingway in the make. But having just left that so-called expat paradise after a year and a half, I wouldn’t say that the famed “Paris in the ’20s” feeling isn’t in Buenos Aires; in fact, it’s not likely to ever exist again.
For starters, the so-called Lost Generation depended on physical locations to bring expat writers together, such as English-language bookstores, cafés, and periodicals: The Paris Review got its start during Paris’s second wave of expatriates in the 1950s; Shakespeare and Co. was founded in Paris a few decades prior, and published James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922. There are a few English language bookstores in Buenos Aires, and thanks to tourism boom since the economic crash, many regular bookstores now have English language sections. But compared to the ’20s, current writers and artists have no inherent need to find any such physical community to have their work validated or published. Maya Frost, a U.S. expatriate living in Buenos Aires, has a book forthcoming from Crown on May 19th of this year. While in Buenos Aires, she got her agent because of her blog, and arranged the entire deal—from proposal development to manuscript proofreading—via e-mail. Any writer or artist today only needs the internet to work or network. Literary magazines there have a much smaller potential audience than a literary magazine in the states; as a result, the best work is emailed overseas. At last year’s Buenos Aires Book Fair, one of the few panels featuring expat writers was a writing group that expounded on tips on how to use the internet to further your writing career. There wasn’t a need for a 21st century Shakespeare & Co. before the crash–and there’s no need for one now.
Many expats earn their living by telecommuting; who can afford the good lifestyle if you’re making pesos? While Hemingway earned his living in a similar fashion, by reporting for newspapers, budgets for freelance writers or foreign reporters aren’t what they used to be. So here’s a key difference: lots of expats have computer-based jobs, posing as consultants based in Washington, D.C.; it’s a Thomas Friedman article come alive, but with protagonists who spend more time on Facebook. Because they’re competing with others in Bangalore and NYC, their intensive work cut down on face-time. A recent MIT study showed that the internet is more isolating than TV.
Even if your friends have no need for jobs and enjoy hanging out face-to-face, transportation isn’t what it used to be. In the 1920s, a 4-5 day transoceanic liner was the only way to make the trek from the U.S. to Paris. The subsequent expansion of air travel has turned this process into one that’s comparatively cheap and painless. This relative lack of an initial investment in living in Buenos Aires also makes for an extraordinarily transient population: many rent apartments online—you can have a place lined up before you get there—stay for two months, and leave. Since it still seems like a great deal compared to Europe, study abroad programs are growing like weeds.
And yet, because it’s so easy for anyone to hop in and out, Buenos Aires is suffering from the same real estate problem of many large cities: the most affluent people in the world are buying lofts in Willamsburg, Paris, and Buenos Aires—spending a week in one before moving on—and helping to drive up rents for everyone else. Because of the opportunity for quick transportation and telecommuting, expat communities have sprung up all over; Shanghai, Beijing, Berlin, Jakarta. You can find a website for nearly every international city, each claiming to be an expat hub. But each filled with people who may:
-spend less time abroad, frequently going home for holidays
-can easily work and socialize with other foreigners
Filed under: Behavior, Technology | 2 Comments
Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Prague, telecommuting
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Photo credit: Fran Lebowitz.I like to write about behavior, culture, and technology.
So true, so true, karlastarr. Buenos Aires is not the Paris of the ’20s …it is merely the Paris of the Palmtrees …not so bad, though.
I, too, thought that I would either become my own Gerty …or, at least, meet my Stein amongst our own lost generation. It didn’t happen but, as far as I can discern, it didn’t happen for anyone else here, or there, or anywhere, at any time or place. Was it too much to ask? Maybe, but I asked the question as well as you apparently did. No harm in asking.
Let’s not be too very tough on ourselves, though. The makings were/are all here in Buenos Aires. It has been ourselves that have not been up to the task, if anything. I can’t say that there were not, nor are not, salons worthy of a Gertrude here …but I have to admit that I haven’t personally noticed any produce.
Once again, let’s try to remember that the Lost Generation began in 1918 and obtained their fame in the 20s. Maybe there is hope for everyone, yet. After all, relatively no one took advantage of this beautiful city until a couple of years after the currency collapse of 2001/02. That would put us about 1925 in comparison, no? That was the year of the publication of The Great Gatsby …maybe we’ll see something comparable before the year’s end. Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises wasn’t published until ‘26… maybe that gives us another year of leeway.
But I personally know Maya Frost and her works and her husband, Tom. As we stand comparatively in 1925, in Gertrude Stein years, maybe we’ll see more of the likes of Maya …and maybe we should be more than glad to see them.
I share your lament over the demise of publishing and editing since the Lost Generation. Believe me, I do. Most likely, Maya obtained her agent and her deal over the internet instead of by means more appropriate to that golden age. If I can ever discover the means with which the revered mid-1920’s cohort of our literature obtained their own arrangements with their publishers, I can only hope that they never stooped to the use of the telephone.
Please keep up your good fight for the best for all of us,
Mike
Hi Karla
What an interesting article with excellent observations.
The question is – Is this trend bad ? In the past the expats communities were local, but today you can create international expats communities, and broaden your social networking. This can open so many wonderful opportunities, and other kind of experiences.
Sharon