21st-century a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity adventure african-american african-american-experience african-american-literature alienation alternate-reality american-dream american-history american-literature art atheism atmospheric betrayal black-experience black-identity blindness brotherhood canada canadian-literature civil-rights comedy coming-of-age computer-programming conformity contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-world counterculture coupland dark-comedy dark-humor death-of-god destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story discrimination disillusionment douglas douglas-coupland dream-like dreamlike dreams dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia enigmatic enlightenment eternal-recurrence eternal-return ethics existential existential-crisis existentialism fantasy fate fiction folklore free-will freedom friendship gaming geek-culture generation-x german-literature god-is-dead harlem harlem-renaissance haruki-murakami human-nature human-potential humanism humor identity identity-crisis individualism individuality internet internet-culture introspection introspective invisibility invisible invisible-man isolation japan japanese-culture japanese-literature jazz journey jpod knowledge life-affirmation literary-fiction literature loneliness love love-story magic-realism magical-realism meaning-of-life metafiction metaphysical metaphysics mind-bending modern-classic modernism moral-values morality murakami mystery mythology nietzsche novel obsession office-culture office-life office-politics oppression overman parallel-universe parallel-worlds perspectivism philosophical philosophy philosophy-of-life pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism power power-dynamics prejudice protagonist psychological quest quirky quirky-characters race racism religion romance satire segregation self-actualization self-discovery self-empowerment self-mastery self-overcoming self-realization self-reliance self-transcendence self-transformation sheep sheep-man social-commentary social-inequality social-injustice social-justice society southern-united-states spirituality stereotypes subversion subversive suffering superhuman superman supernatural surreal surrealism symbolic symbolism technology tokyo transcendence transcendentalism transformation truth ubermensch unconventional underground urban urban-fantasy vancouver video-games will-to-power wisdom workplace workplace-humor übermensch