Deserted E-Book

Bellamy Edward

• Herausgeber: DigiCat
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

In "Deserted," Edward Bellamy explores the themes of isolation and societal decay through a thought-provoking narrative set in a dystopian future. The literary style employs vivid imagery and an analytical tone, juxtaposing the protagonist's internal struggles with the external challenges of a desolate world. Bellamy intricately weaves philosophical discourse on social justice and economic disparity, fitting within the broader context of the late 19th-century concern for the future of American society, particularly in response to the Industrial Revolution's consequences. Edward Bellamy, an American author and social activist, gained prominence for his utopian views, most famously articulated in his earlier work, "Looking Backward." His keen insights into social structures and economic systems heavily influenced his writing of "Deserted." Personal experiences and the socio-political climate of his time, coupled with his visionary ideals, propelled him to address the consequences of capitalism and the necessity of societal reform. I highly recommend "Deserted" to readers who appreciate speculative fiction grounded in socio-political critique. Bellamy's unique perspective invites readers to reflect on contemporary issues and consider the implications of abandoning social responsibility. This compelling narrative offers both a cautionary tale and a clarion call for renewed communal values.

Leseprobe

Edward Bellamy

Deserted

1898

 

EAN 8596547369004

DigiCat, 2022 Contact: [email protected]

Table of Contents

Cover

Titlepage

Text

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By Edward Bellamy 1898

Table of Contents

“What a glorious, all-satisfying country this Nevada desert would be, if one were only all eyes, and had no need of food, drink, and shelter! Would n't it, Miss Dwyer? Do you know, I 've no doubt that this is the true location of heaven. You see, the lack of water and vegetation would be no inconvenience to spirits, while the magnificent scenery and the cloudless sky would be just the thing to make them thrive.”

“But what I can't get over,” responded the young lady addressed, “is that these alkali plains, which have been described as so dreary and uninteresting, should prove to be in reality one of the most wonderfully impressive and beautiful regions in the world. What awful fibbers, or what awfully dull people, they must have been whose descriptions have so misled the public! It is perfectly unaccountable. Here I expected to doze all the way across the desert, while in fact I 've grudged my eyes time enough to wink ever since I left my berth this morning.”

“The trouble is,” replied her companion, “that persons in search of the picturesque, or with much eye for it, are rare travelers along this route. The people responsible for the descriptions you complain of are thrifty businessmen, with no idea that there can be any possible attraction in a country where crops can't be raised, timber cut, or ore dug up. For my part, I thank the Lord for the beautiful barrenness that has consecrated this great region to loneliness. Here there will always be a chance to get out of sight and sound of the swarming millions who have already left scarcely standing-room for a man in the East. I wouldn't give much for a country where there are no wildernesses left.”

“But I really think it is rather hard to say in just what the beauty of the desert consists,” said Miss Dwyer. “It is so simple. I scribbled two pages of description in my note-book this morning, but when I read them over, and then looked out of the window, I tore them up. I think the wonderfully fine, clear, brilliant air transfigures the landscape and makes it something that must be seen and can't be told. After seeing how this air makes the ugly sagebrush and the patches of alkali and brown earth a feast to the eye, one can understand how the light of heaven may make the ugliest faces beautiful.”

The pretty talker is sitting next the window of palace-car No. 30 of the Central Pacific line, which has already been her flying home for two days. The gentleman who sits beside her professes to be sharing the view, but it is only fair I should tell the reader that under this pretense he is nefariously delighting in the rounded contour of his companion's half-averted face, as she, in unfeigned engrossment, scans the panorama unrolled before them by the swift motion of the car. How sweet and fresh is the bright tint of her cheek against the ghastly white background of the alkali-patches as they flit by! Still, it can't be said that he is n't enjoying the scenery too, for surely there is no such Claude-Lorraine glass to reflect and enhance the beauty of a landscape as the face of a spirituelle girl.

With a profound sigh, summing up both her admiration and that despair of attaining the perfect insight and sympathy imagined and longed for which is always a part of intense appreciation of natural beauty, Miss Dwyer threw herself back in her seat, and fixed her eyes on the car-ceiling with an expression as if she were looking at something at least as far away as the moon.

“I 'm going to make a statue when I get home,” she said—“a statue which will personify Nevada, and represent the tameless, desolate, changeless, magnificent beauty and the self-sufficient loneliness of the desert. I can see it in my mind's eye now. It will probably be the finest statue in the world.”

“If you 'd as lief put your ideal into a painting, I will give you a suggestion that will be original if nothing else,” he observed.

“What's that?”

“Why, having in view these white alkali-patches that chiefly characterize Nevada, paint her as a leper.”

“That's horrid! You need n't talk to me any more,” she exclaimed emphatically.