There are maps both in Elizabeth Wilson's book, which deals with bohemians in general, and in Andrew Barrow's, which is a study of two in particular, but the street plans of Soho, Paris or Munich are not much use as a guide to the subject. Bohemia is a country of the mind, a flying island that may land anywhere and take off again just as quickly. No sooner have the upwardly mobile middle classes discovered it, in Greenwich Village or Montparnasse, than it is gone, vanishing on contact with gentrification. Conversely, it may flourish in unlikely places, in country towns and even suburbs.

LRB 6 March 2003 | PDF Download