Today's Word "bohemian"
Published in Vocabulary
bohemian \bo-'hee-mi-yen\ (noun) - 1 : (when capitalized) A native of Bohemia, a region of Czechia; 2 : an artist who lives and works outside the mainstream.
"Doing her best to play the part of bohemian poet, Janice would dress in all black, wear a beret, and go onstage barefooted whenever giving a reading."
A phenomenon of 19th century France, the bohemian movement was initially encouraged by Victor Hugo. He advocated breaking away from the restrictions of the artistic style of the day, which was confined to the tastes of wealthy patrons who took artists under their wings. Hugo put together an army of bizarrely dressed artists to show up for the opening of his play "Hernani," who did considerable damage to the theater after they were locked inside. Hugo soon returned to his bourgeoisie life but the Bohemian artists continued to avoid it, finally receiving recognition in Puccini's opera, "La Boheme." While the movement had died out by World War I, the idea reemerged in the beatniks of the 1950s and the hippie subculture of the 1960s.
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