Facing The Abyss

Download or read book Facing the Abyss written by George Hutchinson and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mythologized as the era of the “good war” and the “Greatest Generation,” the 1940s are frequently understood as a more heroic, uncomplicated time in American history. Yet just below the surface, a sense of dread, alienation, and the haunting specter of radical evil permeated American art and literature. Writers returned home from World War II and gave form to their disorienting experiences of violence and cruelty. They probed the darkness that the war opened up and confronted bigotry, existential guilt, ecological concerns, and fear about the nature and survival of the human race. In Facing the Abyss, George Hutchinson offers readings of individual works and the larger intellectual and cultural scene to reveal the 1940s as a period of profound and influential accomplishment. Facing the Abyss examines the relation of aesthetics to politics, the idea of universalism, and the connections among authors across racial, ethnic, and gender divisions. Modernist and avant-garde styles were absorbed into popular culture as writers and artists turned away from social realism to emphasize the process of artistic creation. Hutchinson explores a range of important writers, from Saul Bellow and Mary McCarthy to Richard Wright and James Baldwin. African American and Jewish novelists critiqued racism and anti-Semitism, women writers pushed back on the misogyny unleashed during the war, and authors such as Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams reflected a new openness in the depiction of homosexuality. The decade also witnessed an awakening of American environmental and ecological consciousness. Hutchinson argues that despite the individualized experiences depicted in these works, a common belief in art’s ability to communicate the universal in particulars united the most important works of literature and art during the 1940s. Hutchinson’s capacious view of American literary and cultural history masterfully weaves together a wide range of creative and intellectual expression into a sweeping new narrative of this pivotal decade.

Download or read book Song of the Abyss written by Makiia Lucier and published by Clarion Books. This book was released on 2019 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When men start vanishing at sea without a trace, seventeen-year-old Reyna, a Master Explorer, must travel to a country shrouded in secrets to solve the mystery before it is too late.

Download or read book The Abyss Surrounds Us written by Emily Skrutskie and published by North Star Editions, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-02-08 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cassandra Leung’s been a sea monster trainer ever since she could walk, raising genetically engineered beast to defend ships crossing the NeoPacific ... until pirates snatch her from the blood-stained decks.

Download or read book Into the Abyss written by Carol Shaben and published by Random House Canada. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On an icy night in October 1984, a Piper Navajo commuter plane carrying 9 passengers crashed in the remote wilderness of northern Alberta, killing 6 people. Four survived: the rookie pilot, a prominent politician, a cop, and the criminal he was escorting to face charges. Despite the poor weather, Erik Vogel, the 24-year-old pilot, was under intense pressure to fly--a situation not uncommon to pilots working for small airlines. Overworked and exhausted, he feared losing his job if he refused to fly. Larry Shaben, the author's father and Canada's first Muslim Cabinet Minister, was commuting home after a busy week at the Alberta Legislature. After Paul Archambault, a drifter wanted on an outstanding warrant, boarded the plane, rookie Constable Scott Deschamps decided, against RCMP regulations, to remove his handcuffs--a decision that profoundly impacted the men's survival. As they fought through the night to stay alive, the dividing lines of power, wealth and status were erased and each man was forced to confront the precious and limited nature of his existence. The survivors forged unlikely friendships and through them found strength and courage to rebuild their lives. Into the Abyss is a powerful narrative that combines in-depth reporting with sympathy and grace to explore how a single, tragic event can upset our assumptions and become a catalyst for transformation.

Download or read book Into the Abyss written by Carol Shaben and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only four men survived the plane crash: The pilot, A politician, A cop . . . And the criminal he was shackled to. On a freezing October night in 1984, a Canadian commuter plane smashed headlong into a high ridge of remote, rugged forest. Among the survivors was a small-time criminal named Paul Archimbault, now free of his handcuffs and the only one to escape the crash uninjured. The only one capable of keeping the other three survivors alive -- should he choose to...

Download or read book Facing The Abyss written by A.K. Chesterton and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A. K. Chesterton's brilliant appraisal of the Liberal disease and corrupt society which has ravaged our country - indeed the world - over the past few decades, and will continue to do so unless and until we get a grip on ourselves and adopt a more rational, responsible and purposeful attitude toward life and its problems.

Download or read book My Bright Abyss written by Christian Wiman and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A passionate meditation on the consolations and disappointments of religion and poetry