Adventure

What is the meaning of 'adventure' as we enter the second decade of the 21st century, after a global pandemic, social and geopolitical calamities, and accelerating environmental catastrophes? Where are our frontiers these days? What stories are humans telling about wilderness, remote destinations, and the most difficult thoughts thinkable? How are adventures represented in contemporary fiction, film, and other cultural forms? What are the limits of this word, this idea? In Adventure, Christopher Schaberg takes time out of our frenetic times to reflect on these questions and on the human compulsion for adventure - and how we find it, or not.Adventure is a pinball assortment of unexpected encounters with adventures and adventure-seeking. Each chapter entertains a specific project, fantasy, or activity that dabbles with adventure - and runs into limits. Subjects range from Mars exploration, commercial space tourism, and SUV advertisements, to environmental literature, contemporary criticism, and cultural reckonings with weather events pressurized by climate change. Adventure takes a wide-angle view - at times personal, at others theoretical - of our ideas about adventure and their narrative, cultural, and philosophical underpinnings.