a-wild-sheep-chase absurdism absurdist absurdity adventure african-american african-american-experience african-american-literature alienation alternate-reality american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers atmospheric autobiography battle betrayal biography black-experience bravery brotherhood brutality camaraderie canada canadian-literature civil-rights combat comedy coming-of-age computer-programming conflict conformity contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-world counterculture coupland courage dark-comedy dark-humor death detective detective-fiction detective-story discrimination disillusionment douglas douglas-coupland dream-like dreamlike dreams duty dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family enigmatic existential existentialism fantasy fate fear fiction first-hand-account firsthand-account freedom friendship frontline gaming geek-culture generation-x guerrilla-warfare guilt harlem harlem-renaissance haruki-murakami heroism historical history humor identity identity-crisis individualism individuality infantry internet internet-culture introspection introspective invisibility invisible invisible-man isolation japan japanese-literature jazz journalism journey jpod leadership literary-fiction literature loneliness loss love love-story magical-realism marine-corps marines memoir metafiction metaphysical military military-history mind-bending modernism morality mystery mythology non-fiction nonfiction novel obsession office-culture office-life office-politics oppression personal-account personal-narrative philosophical philosophy pop-culture pop-culture-references post-traumatic-stress-disorder postmodern postmodernism power power-dynamics prejudice protagonist psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact ptsd pulitzer-prize quest quirky quirky-characters race racism redemption reflection romance sacrifice satire segregation self-discovery sheep social-commentary social-inequality social-injustice social-justice society soldier soldiers soldiers-perspective southern-united-states stereotypes subversion subversive supernatural surrealism survival symbolic symbolism technology tokyo transformation trauma true-story unconventional underground vancouver veteran veterans video-games vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-literature violence war war-correspondent war-experience war-experiences war-journalism war-literature war-memoir workplace