- Hieronymous Alloy
- Jan 30, 2009
-
Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!
-
Morbid Hound
|
1) The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
quote:
The Log from the Sea of Cortez is an English-language book written by American author John Steinbeck and published in 1951. It details a six-week (March 11 – April 20) marine specimen-collecting boat expedition he made in 1940 at various sites in the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez), with his friend, the marine biologist Ed Ricketts. It is regarded as one of Steinbeck's most important works of non-fiction chiefly because of the involvement of Ricketts, who shaped Steinbeck's thinking and provided the prototype for many of the pivotal characters in his fiction, and the insights it gives into the philosophies of the two men.
The Log from the Sea of Cortez is the narrative portion of an unsuccessful earlier work, Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, which was published by Steinbeck and Ricketts shortly after their return from the Gulf of California, and combined the journals of the collecting expedition, reworked by Steinbeck, with Ricketts' species catalogue. After Ricketts' death in 1948, Steinbeck dropped the species catalogue from the earlier work and republished it with a eulogy to his friend added as a foreword.
how bout The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck?
It's one of my favorites that I haven't read in a decade or more. The marine ecology is really great, Ricketts is a philosopher and this is set during WW2 so there is a fair bit of philosophy and politics. It's nonfiction and essentially a journal so it's very readable in small chunks.
I don't see it available free anywhere, but it's $1.50 for an e-book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Log-Sea-Cortez-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140187448
2) Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
quote:
Under the Volcano is named after the novel written by the English writer Malcolm Lowry. First published in 1947 it has often been described as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. The story recounts the final day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, British Consul, and chronic alcoholic. Full of symbols and allusions to literature, religion, and mythology, Under the Volcano takes place in Cuernavaca on the Mexican holiday of the day of the dead. According to popular belief, the deceased have divine permission to visit friends and relatives on November 2nd. Relatives decorate grave sites with flowers and candles and bring food, drinks and presents to their ancestors to enjoy. To outsiders, this may seem macabre, but in Mexico, death does not signify an ending but a stage in a constant cycle. The dead are never forgotten because once a year they take their place next to the living and enjoy the fruits and flowers of the earth.
https://www.underthevolcanohouston.com/
3) Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
quote:
Night Flight, published as Vol de Nuit in 1931, was the second novel by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It went on to become an international bestseller and a film based on it appeared in 1933.[1] Its popularity, which only grew with the ideological conflicts of the 1930s – 1940s, was due to its master theme of sacrificing personal considerations to a cause in which one believes.
. . .
The novel is set in Argentina at the outset of commercial aviation. Rivière is the station chief of an airline that is the first to pioneer night flights, disciplining his employees to focus all they do on ensuring that the mail gets through punctually each night. The novel's episodic structure is built about his work at the Buenos Aires office and the final hours of the pilot Fabien on the Patagonia run. Fabien's plane is caught in a cyclone, runs out of fuel and loses radio contact, while Rivière tries all he can to locate the aircraft. At stake is the future of the night mail-run to Europe. Once the two other flights from Chile and Paraguay get through, Rivière has to allow the trans-Atlantic flight to Paris to depart without the missing mail, resigning himself to Fabien's loss.
. . .
A major theme of the novel is whether doing what is necessary to meet a long-term goal is more important than an individual's life. Rivière wants to show that airmail is more efficient than other means of transport. “It is a matter of life and death for us; for the lead we gain by day on ships and railways is lost at night.” He therefore puts his pilots at risk to establish its commercial viability, but it is a sacrifice that they too readily accept. Drawing on his own experience and that of his fellow-pilots, Saint-Exupéry portrays them as renouncing everything in a cause in which they believe. The relationship between themselves and their employers is not that of slave and master but of man to man: a liberty with as single constraint their submission to duty. In submitting oneself to that absolute, to which all other personal considerations are consciously subordinated, greatness is achieved in one's own eyes and in those of others.
4) Can Such Things Be by Ambrose Bierce
quote:
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842[2] – circa 1914[3]) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and Civil War veteran. His book The Devil's Dictionary was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.[4] His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature";[5] and his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (also published as In the Midst of Life) was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900.[6]
A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States,[7][8] and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction.[9] For his horror writing, Michael Dirda ranked him alongside Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft.[10] S. T. Joshi speculates that he may well be the greatest satirist America has ever produced, and in this regard can take his place with such figures as Juvenal, Swift, and Voltaire.[11] His war stories influenced Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway, and others,[12] and he was considered an influential and feared literary critic.[13] In recent decades Bierce has gained wider respect as a fabulist and for his poetry.[14][15]
In 1913, Bierce told reporters that he was travelling to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the Mexican Revolution.[16] He disappeared and was never seen again.
quote:
Can Such Things Be? is a collection of short stories by Ambrose Bierce, whose first edition appeared in 1893.
It is notable in the Yellow Mythos for the stories An Inhabitant of Carcosa, in which the city of Carcosa is first mentioned in a published work, and Haita the Shepherd, in which Hastur is first mentioned in a published work (note, these two stories first appeared together in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians). Further, Hali, a philosopher, is referenced in a quote at the beginning of the story The Death of Halpin Frayser and as well as in An Inhabitant of Carcosa.
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2021 15:21
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 13:48
|
|
- Discendo Vox
- Mar 21, 2013
-
Can't post for 3 hours!
|
Just for context, I'd note that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry also died under disputed circumstances while conducting a WW2 reconnaissance mission.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2021 01:28
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2021 15:21
