Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table

Bohemianism was a philosophical and cultural movement that arose in France in the mid-1800s: It encouraged people to live a supposed “artist’s lifestyle” that prioritized art and friendship and rejected conventional ideas about politics, sexual relationships, material comfort, and money. The name “Bohemian” comes from stereotypes about Romani peoples, whom the French believed to have come from Bohemia, an area in today’s Czech Republic. Many notable American writers, musicians, and artists came to identify as Bohemians.

By Reichl’s time, the term was more loosely used to describe both unconventional intellectuals and artists living countercultural lifestyles and a cheerful, unrestrained, and eclectic design aesthetic that ignores conventional ideas about pattern, color, texture, and so on. Reichl first uses the word in reference to Miriam’s “very colorful taste in clothing” (11). Later, she uses the word to refer to Pat’s similarly eclectic style. When she calls herself a “Gypsy” in Chapter 14 (216), and when she notes the reporter’s use of the word “Gypsy” to describe her in Chapter 16, “Bohemian” is the actual concept being communicated (243).