1950s 1980s a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-rush adventure aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft alternate-reality ambition american-literature army army-life atmospheric aviation aviators betrayal bravery brotherhood camaraderie character-driven character-study chase classic 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 destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story determination drama dream-like dreamlike dreams duty dystopia dystopian emotional endurance enigma enigmatic excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism fantasy fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying folklore friendship grief gripping haruki-murakami haunting hawaii heroism historical-fiction honor hunters identity identity-crisis individuality intense intensity introspection introspective isolation james james-salter japan japanese-culture japanese-literature journey korean-war life literary literary-fiction literature loneliness loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty magic-realism magical-realism masculinity metaphysical military military-fiction military-life mind-bending modern-classic modern-fiction modern-literature morality mortality murakami mystery mythology nostalgia novel obsession pacific-theater parallel-universe parallel-worlds passion pearl-harbor 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 sacrifice salter self-discovery sheep sheep-man soldier soldiers solitude spirituality strategy struggle supernatural surreal surrealism survival suspense suspenseful symbolic symbolism teamwork tension the-hunters thrill thriller thrilling tokyo tragedy transformation trauma triumph unconventional urban urban-fantasy victory vietnam vietnam-war war war-novel world-war-ii