And it means not exactly that you’re a flop, but “short of or frustrated in the fulfillment of one’s aspirations or talents.” Which means chalk up one for most of the human population. It’s particularly true, or at least self-assigned, among writers and “creative people.” So, back in the 50’s, writers became “Ernest Hemingway manqué,” method actors became “Marlon Brando manqué,” witty women became “Dorothy Parker manqué.”

After this had gone on for a while, the mandarins of culture started getting worried. How could the younger generation be churning out such a load of crap? Where were the giants? Flannery O’Connor famously responded: “So many people can now write competent stories that the short story as a medium is in danger of dying of competence.”

Today, big actors, writers, painters, baseball players, politicians are notable by their palpable absence. What remains are yearning echoes of greatness, a generation of Manqués, very good, very close … no cigar! Some have devoted their lives to getting there, beautiful and sleek engines of imitation. But the Manqués are just short of that—pardon our Franglais—“je ne sais quoi.”

For instance, when you hear Clark Gable deliver the line, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” It’s so hammy! And so good. Is anyone today man enough to deliver that line? The great remake of Gone With the Wind will never happen because no actor today will deliver a line like that. And if he did, he’d be hooted out of the theater.

Yet we still need leading men, swagger and that crooked grin. George Clooney is not Clark Gable, but he’s sure listened to him.

Often the quality of the Manqué becomes its own thing. Starbucks is coffee manqué, but as bad, or good, as it can be, it has become the Thing.

Taken together, the greatest in this generation may become just like Starbucks, triumphantly successful Manqués who finally become the Thing. Check them out on page C12, and feel free to browse. You might want to try imitating one of them someday.

To see a larger version of the Observatory click on the image below. To read a text version click here.

CULTURE

Martin Amis is Saul Bellow manqué

Spring Awakening is Rent manqué

Alicia Keys is Chaka Khan manquée

Lauren Weisberger is Rona Jaffe manquée

Dave Eggers is David Foster Wallace manqué

Dana Vachon is Jay McInerney manqué

Amy Winehouse is PJ Harvey manquée

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is David Byrne manqué

Jonathan Safran Foer is Nicole Krauss manqué

Feist is Cat Power manqué

Ryan McGinley is Nan Goldin manqué

Harry Connick, Jr. is Frank Sinatra manqué

Iron and Wine is Nick Drake manqué

Karen O is Joan Jett manquée

Ryan Seacrest is Dick Clark manqué

Toni Morrison is William Faulkner manquée

Michael Feinstein is Bobby Short manqué

Rufus Wainwright is Judy Garland manqué

Arcade Fire is U2 manqué

Gwen Stefani is Madonna manquée

Kanye West is P. Diddy manqué

James Wood is V.S. Pritchett manqué

Music Hall of Williamsburg is CBGB manqué

Rihanna is Beyoncé Knowles manquée

Neil LaBute is David Mamet manqué

Keith Gessen (N+1) is Dale Peck manqué

Jay McInerney is not F. Scott Fitzgerald manqué

Nicole Krauss is Jonathan Safran Foer manquée

Michael Chabon/Ayelet Waldman are Calvin Trillin/Alice Trillin manqués

SOCIETY/FASHION

Fabian Basabe is Kenny Jay Lane manqué

Kate Spade is Bonnie Cashin manqué

Paris Hilton is Patty Hearst manquée

Zac Posen is Isaac Mizrahi manqué

Ian Schrager is Ian Schrager manqué

Tony Burch is Diane von Furstenberg manqué

Tinsley Mortimer is Babe Paley manquée

Proenza Schouler is Badgley Mischka manquée

SPORTS

Isiah Thomas is Willis Reed manqué

Eli Manning is Peyton Manning manqué

Jose Reyes is Derek Jeter manqué

Willie Randolph is Joe Torre manqué

Billy Wagner is Mariano Rivera manqué

Citi Field is Ebbets Field manqué

Eric Mangini is Bill Belichick manqué

Tom Coughlin is Bill Parcells manqué

Andy Roddick is Jimmy Connors manqué

John Sterling and Susan Waldman are Phil Rizzuto and Bill White manqués

Bob Costas is Jim McKay manqué

POLITICS

Eliot Spitzer is Eliot Ness manqué

Andrew Cuomo is Eliot Spitzer manqué

Andrew Cuomo is Mario Cuomo manqué

Anthony Weiner is Chuck Schumer manqué

Hillary Clinton is Bill Clinton manquée

John Edwards is Bobby Kennedy manqué

Jon Corzine is Mike Bloomberg manqué

Mitt Romney is Ronald Reagan manqué

Judith Nathan is Cheri Oteri manquée

REAL ESTATE

Michael Shvo is Donald Trump manqué

Fort Greene is Harlem manqué

Harlem is Fort Greene manqué

Pam Liebman is Barbara Corcoran manquée

Times Tower is Condé Nast Tower manqué

The Financial District is Tribeca manqué

Ditmas Park is Park Slope manqué

The Bloomberg Administration is Robert Moses manqué

‘Central Park North’ is Central Park South manqué

TELEVISION/MOVIES

Andy Samberg is Adam Sandler manqué

Angelina Jolie is Audrey Hepburn manquée

Cameron Crowe is Billy Wilder manqué

Cashmere Mafia is Lipstick Jungle manqué

Emile Hirsch is Leonardo DiCaprio manqué

George Clooney is Clark Gable manqué

Greg Kinnear is Jack Lemmon manqué

Harvey Weinstein is Joseph E. Levine manqué

Jake Paltrow is Bruce Paltrow manqué

Kid Nation is Lord of the Flies manqué

Kristin Chenoweth is Madeline Kahn manquée

Lost is Myst manqué

Pushing Daisies is Six Feet Under manqué

Russell Crowe is Mel Gibson manqué

Sex and the City (movie) is Sex and the City (TV series) manqué

Will Ferrell is Steve Martin manqué

Tina Fey is Jerry Seinfeld manquée

Tom Cruise is Montgomery Clift manqué

Wes Anderson is Sister Parrish manqué

Sarah Silverman is Lily Tomlin manquée

Gina Gershon is Ellen Barkin manquée

Kate Bosworth is Michelle Pfeiffer manquée

Kate Hudson is Goldie Hawn manquée

Gossip Girl is Sweet Valley High manqué

Wes Anderson is Peter Bogdanovich manqué

FOOD

Anne Burrell is Mario Batali manquée

Tom Colicchio is Danny Meyer manqué

Danny Meyer is George Lange manqué

Starbucks is Chock full o’Nuts manqué

Whole Foods is Fairway manqué

Waverly Inn is Elaine’s manqué

Hill Country is Blue Smoke manqué

Pamplona is Urena manqué

MEDIA

Adam Gopnik is E.B. White manqué

Christopher Hitchens is H.L. Mencken manqué

Atoosa Rubenstein is Jane Pratt manquée

Chuck Klosterman is Lester Bangs manqué

George Saunders is Kurt Vonnegut manqué

Orhan Pamuk is Salman Rushdie manqué

Jonathan Ferris is Jonathan Lethem manqué

A Public Space is Paris Review manqué

Hearst is Condé Nast manqué

Maer Roshan is Tina Brown manqué

Malcolm Gladwell is Marshall McLuhan manqué

The New York Observer is The New York Post manqué

The New Yorker is The New Yorker manqué

Brian Williams is Tom Brokaw manqué

David Gregory is Sam Donaldson manqué