The Great Black Sail and Other Stories.

摘要

The Great Black Sail and Other Stories is a collection of non-fiction stories (memoir) by and about their author, Joseph Louis Montalbo, dealing primarily with the theme of achievement and inadequacy in the face of the ever-present Millennial desire to consistently acquire both accomplishments and objects. These stories also deal heavily with familial/romantic relationships, academia, embarrassment, stand-up comedy, and memory. The primary conclusion drawn from these stories, as a whole, is that achievement, either personal or professional, in and of itself does not produce a life worth meaning, and that to believe so is a source of suffering for the narrator. Instead, the narrator comes to the conclusion that the better way to live is focusing only on the work of attaining achievement as that makes the actual acquisition of achievements irrelevant.