(2) Those problems cluster around what one might call the '
bleakness' charge: that Darwinian naturalism describes a world marked by brute contingency, alienation, and randomness in a way that jeopardises the possibility of one's living a genuinely meaningful life within it.
"Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting
bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing.
Randy Boyagoda speculates in his review of Seeing ["
Bleakness," April] that Jose Saramago may be "one of the world's most celebrated yet quietly unread writers." On what evidence?
After Matiss summons the police, a cynical and chatty detective (Vigo Roga) arrives and lectures him on the high local suicide rate and the general
bleakness of society.
And from the
bleakness of that mountain slope came a glimmer of goodness and hope.
On the contrary, Grob argues that even the most historicist poems need to be understood as part of Arnold's 'poetics of
bleakness' (p.
Despite the content, King's mostly single-voiced reading will keep listeners on task, gripped by Atwood's commentary on aspects of marriage and life, as well as by the
bleakness these characters experience.
Once again, as with his previous books Migrations (Aperture, April 2000) and Workers (Aperture, October 1993), Salgado brings forth moving images of
bleakness that behold an underlying hint of hope and inspiration.
Just as the humour of Connolly's country and western mix belies the
bleakness of the lyrics, closer inspection of Claire's vases showed a dark disturbing side.
To experience firsthand the
bleakness and desolation of the moors described in Emily Bronte's novel, choreographer-director David Nixon took his dancers out on them for a day, an experiment that worked.
But Naipaul outdoes most of his fellow exiles in unrelenting
bleakness. At the same time, he is so meticulously factual, so understated, and un-self-promoting that there seems no way to dismiss this long travelogue (and the many non-fiction volumes that have preceded it, such as Beyond belief or India: A Million Mutinies Now) as mere rancorous personal screeds.
Mint Museum Curator Michael Whittington described the collection as, "Modern in
bleakness and simplicity, his Parisian was nostalgic in his fondness for 19th century architectures.
Grasso's chapter on Our Nig, for example, contrasts the fantasy of transformation and reconciliation found in Susan Warner's The Wide, Wide World and Fanny Fern's Ruth Hall with the tragic
bleakness of "Nig's" story in a way that makes Wilson's work clearly superior to the others.
''An official at a baby-product maker said the rise in its stock is like sharing the bright news when Japan's situation is full of
bleakness,'' said Hiroichi Nishi, an analyst at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc.
In the Prussian
bleakness of Berlin, the overwhelming impression is of an Arabian fairytale palace.
