1950s 1980s a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adventure aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft airplanes alternate-reality ambition american-literature atmospheric aviation aviators beautiful-prose betrayal bravery brotherhood camaraderie character-driven character-study chase combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict consciousness conspiracy contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature courage cult-classic danger dangerous-missions dark-comedy dark-humor death desire destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story determination drama dream-like dreamlike dreams duty dystopia dystopian emotional endurance enigma enigmatic espionage excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism fantasy fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots fighter-planes flying folklore friendship grief gripping haruki-murakami haunting heroism honor hunters identity identity-crisis individuality intense intensity introspection introspective isolation james james-salter japan japanese-culture japanese-literature journey korean-war literary literary-fiction literature loneliness loss love love-affairs love-story love-triangle loyalty magic-realism magical-realism masculinity metaphysical military military-fiction mind-bending modern-classic modern-fiction modern-literature morality mortality murakami mystery mythology nostalgia novel obsession parallel-universe parallel-worlds passion perseverance philosophical philosophy pilot pilots poetic pop-culture post-war postmodern postmodernism power-dynamics psychological pursuit quest redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance romantic sacrifice salter self-discovery sheep sheep-man solitude spirituality squadron strategy struggle supernatural surreal surrealism survival suspense suspenseful symbolic symbolism teamwork tension the-hunters thrill thrill-seeking thriller thrilling tokyo tragedy transformation trauma triumph unconventional urban urban-fantasy victory vietnam vietnam-war vivid-imagery war world-war-ii