First used in 1980, “new romantics” was a term applied to describe a British youth culture recognized initially for its sartorial extravagance and penchant for electronic music. Closely associated with the Blitz nightclub in London's Covent Garden (as well as milieus elsewhere in the UK), new romantics appeared to signal a break from the prescribed aesthetics and sensibilities of punk, rejecting angry oppositionism for glamour and aspiration. In response, cultural commentators have often sought to establish connections between new romantism and the advent of Thatcherism and “the 1980s.” This article challenges such an interpretation, offering a more complex analysis of new romanticism rooted in nascent readings of postmodernism. It also shifts our understandings of the periodization of postwar British history and the concept of “popular individualism,” arguing that youth culture provides invaluable insight both to broader processes of sociocultural change and to the construction of the (post)modern self.

中文翻译：

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过去的！未来！极端！：寻找“新浪漫主义”的意义，1978-82


“新浪漫主义”于 1980 年首次使用，是一个用来描述英国青年文化的术语，该文化最初因其奢华的着装和对电子音乐的喜爱而受到认可。新浪漫主义与伦敦考文特花园的 Blitz 夜总会（以及英国其他地方的环境）密切相关，似乎标志着对朋克既定美学和情感的突破，拒绝为了魅力和抱负而愤怒的反对主义。作为回应，文化评论家经常试图在新浪漫主义与撒切尔主义的出现和“20 世纪 80 年代”之间建立联系。本文对这种解释提出了挑战，对植根于后现代主义新生解读的新浪漫主义进行了更复杂的分析。它还改变了我们对战后英国历史分期和“大众个人主义”概念的理解，认为青年文化为更广泛的社会文化变革进程和（后）现代自我的构建提供了宝贵的见解。