The Fredösphere

Via Instapundit, Ann Althouse reviews a reivew of the boomlet (or pseudo-boomlet) of Neo-Victorians.  Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age gets quoted at length in the comments, which is thrilling because the book is my favorite sci-fi novel.

Am I confident Vickys exist, and live right now in New York?  Not exactly.  Nevertheless, I badly want it to be true.  Am I a neo-Victorian?  Not exactly, and I don't even exactly aspire to the ideal.  My research informs me the Victorian age was a desert as far as striped tee shirts were concerned.  A world without striped tee shirts is a world in which I cannot permit myself to live.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go organize my top hat* drawer.


*Speaking of which, check out this description of the first time a top hat was worn in public:

According to a contemporary newspaper account, passersby panicked at the sight. Several women fainted, children screamed, dogs yelped, and an errand boy's arm was broken when he was trampled by the mob. Hetherington was hauled into court for wearing "a tall structure having a shining luster calculated to frighten timid people."

Labels: Culture