In the fall 2006 exhibition Norman Mailer Takes on America, visitors were asked to record their thoughts on three different topics that Norman Mailer had responded to over the course of his writing career. Composition notebooks and pencils were provided for visitor response, and the notebooks have become part of the Ransom Center’s archive.
One of the notebooks addressed the ideas of “hip” and “square.” Norman Mailer started thinking in earnest about the idea of “hip” in 1956 when a Village Voice reader wrote to him at the newspaper with the following question: “Tell me, what is your definition of a Hip person? A third rate rap artist or a boy who digs Shakespeare, Milton and Freud?” Mailer’s answer, in a Voice column: “Could be either.”
In the year that followed, Mailer wrote frequently about the opposing terms “hip” and “square,” both of which are still in use today. Here are some of the responses that visitors came up with to define the terms.
| HIP Text messaging Square Solar Grasshopppers “Pop” iPods Walkman China Platinum Brooklyn Spirituality Physical activity South First Prius Hip Hop Flip-flops The naked Jon Stewart Stephen Colbert Shade Kinky Crocs Mailer Mailer Sketchy Now PBS John Lennon The Fleur Cowles room Foucault Cooking Blogosphere Psychiatry Intelligent women Converse Math Self-involved Modernity Starbucks Mailer then Austin Jeans Smacking gum Hot pink Imperfection Sushi Stripes Permed hair Tofu Target Stick-on earrings Unicorns Paper scraps Reagan Veronica Mars Indie Homosexual Cowboys You Weird glasses Plastic frames Hybrid Suspenders Man purses Being square Barton Springs UT 80s rock bands Patterns ACL Mac Dell No. 2 Flared trousers Ninjas Cigarettes Organic Tinky Winky Polly Pocket Bangs (swept to one side) Lost Stripes Brangelina Healthy food Childhood obesity Fred Cantu Grey’s Anatomy Old Lost Jon Stewart Barack Obama DVD Jessica Alba Mikes and Ikes T-shirts with slogans Tapas Leggings Cycling Tofu Independence Moped Sexy Hippie Cartography Anonymity Keeping old things Nature Love Honesty McSteamy Ellen Topolski Mary Kate Olsen Political apathy Live music Home cooking Kurt Vonnegut Jeffrey’s Liberty Lunch Writing on alley walls Emo kids Colorful clothing Hips that don’t lie Writing letters Bands or hip-hop True self Leaders Hookah Vintage Lexus Just being Clubs To seduce without meaning to Crushing Christmas Feminism Spiderman IMDB Halliburton Marilyn Monroe JFK Village Voice Gay marriage “With the program” Jung Libertarians Henry Miller Hyperlink Digital UT |
SQUARE Talking on cell phone Sophisticate Oil Crickets “Soda” Walkman iPods Europe Gold Manhattan Religion Couch potato South Congress SUV Rap Flip-flops with heels The dead Bill O’Reilly Ann Coulter Sun Perry Shoes William Bennet Bush MySpace Shady Never MTV Paul McCartney The Tom Lea room Freud Microwaving Cable news Psychology Dumb blondes Nike Religion Human History Folgers Mailer now Dallas Khakis Blowing bubbles Teal Trying too hard Pasta Floral prints Curling irons Dead animals Wal-Mart Hoops Goats Notebooks Clinton The O.C. Punk rock Metrosexual Cowboys Me Contacts Wire frames Hummers Belts Backpacks and pockets Everything else Circle C Pool OU Rap Minimalism CMT Dell Mac No. 1 Tight jeans Black belts Lung cancer Veggie-eaters Barney Bratz Bangs (across the forehead) Desperate Housewives Plaid TomKat Fried things Skinny tykes Katie Couric ER New Lost Conan O’Brien Colin Powell VHS Britney Spears Good and Plenty Plain clothes Conventional meals Bell bottoms Driving Chicken Mom Motorcycle Slutty Preppie Mapquest Fame Shopping Controlled environment Lust Doing what’s “right” McDreamy Oprah Thomas Kincade Ashley Olsen Rallies CDs Fast food Stephen King Elaine’s 6th Street Writing on books in museums Straight edge All grey Hips that lie MySpace Orchestra music Posers Followers Cigarettes Gap Volkswagon Trying to be hip Frat parties To seduce purposely Liking Easter Patriarchal societies Superman MySpace Peace Corps Laura Bush LBJ New York Times Gay divorce “Doesn’t get it” Freud Democrats/Republicans Arthur Miller Sequential Analog A&M |