kaylarudbek

So I have been rolling this idea over for some time, as I'm into the Strauss & Howe generational theories and have been noticing trends in genre literature.

To sum up, Strauss and Howe postulate that there are four archetypes of generation that repeat themselves in a pattern (the original theory postulates a four-stroke cycle over roughly 80-100 years):

Prophet
Nomad
Hero
Artist

They track this out over several centuries, but the most recent pattern (middle 20th C. to now) has the following lineup

Prophet (Boomers) [previous Prophet generation was the Missonaries/Progressive reformers]
Nomad (Gen X) [previous Nomad generation was the Lost Generation]
Hero (Millenials) [previous Hero generation was the G.I.]
Artist (Homelander) [previous Artist generation was the Silent]

(see http://www.fourthturning.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3 for more discussions)

So as the Boomer generation gets older, and refuses to grow up, our genre literature gets more and more obsessed with vampires. I don't think this is an accident.

If I could map monsters to the generational archetypes of Strauss & Howe, I'd pick the following:

Prophet = Vampire (obsessed w/ their youth, incapable of aging, sucking the life out of the generations following them)
Nomad = Werewolf (the generation raised by wolves, the ones that asked for bread and got only stones; every man's hand against them)
Hero = Zombie (the marching morons, falling into line, no brains, only appetite)
Artist = ? (ghosts, wraiths, dwarfs, incubi/succubi? -- this is the only generational archetype I'm having trouble w/ assigning a monster to)