Douglas Coupland is a novelist and visual artist from Vancouver, best known for his novel Generation X.  He was at Ryerson Tuesday to talk about his artistic life.  The Ryersonian talked to him about being Canadian, his work, and how he would define our generation. 

Ryersonian: Is having a Canadian setting in your book important to you? 

D.C.: Not necessarily. The next novel takes place in London, Los Angeles and the mid-Pacific. I’ve enjoyed setting books in Vancouver simply because it’s where I’m from and there’s almost nothing set here, so it’s wide open territory with fewer rules.

Ryersonian: Do you think that the “Canadian” feel of your books alienates readers from other countries? 

D.C.: No. Non-Canadians actually perceive me as being from Vancouver more than they do as being Canadian. And anyone born after 1955 sees me as part of global culture more than being yoked with a single nationality.

Ryersonian: What advice can you give to students who want to make a living as writers or artists?

D.C.: I always give practical advice that works. Sometimes it’s the opposite of inspirational and sometimes it’s idealistic. That’s life in general.

Ryersonian: You’re designing a line of furniture, why did you decide to do this?

D.C.: It’s actually what I’m trained to do. I never studied writing. You might almost ask me why I write books when I’m trained to make furniture. I think we’re at the start of an era when rigid career classifications no longer make sense. We grew up being told we’d all have five careers in the end and this is a part of that. I just run them at the same time.

Ryersonian: What do you think of the state of art and literature in Canada?

D.C.: It’s in comparatively good shape considering how little consistent public funding it gets compared to, say, European countries. A country without proper arts funding is just a parking lot.  Why would you want to live there?

Ryersonian: Your book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture has given a name to an entire generation. How did this happen?

D.C.: By accident. I think if you actually set out to make huge labels, you’re doomed. These things happen on their own. When I wrote Generation X I thought there were maybe  11 people on the planet who would get it.

Ryersonian: What do you think are some traits of the current generation of 20-somethings?

D.C.: 20-somethings have never been smarter but they’re being told they’ve never been stupider. I hope they’re tuning out all of that negative stuff.