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Shadows move among them / Edgar Mittelh olzer.

By:

Mittelh olzer, Edgar

Publication details: Philadelphia, Lippincott [1951]Description: 334 pages 19 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Shadows move among them.DDC classification:

F Mit

LOC classification:

PZ3.M6977 Sh2 PR9320.9.M5

Other classification:

HQ 7660

Available additional physical forms:

Also issued online.

Action note:

010597 Charm

Summary: Portraying the dark, authoritarian side of the utopian dream, this classic novel tells the story of the Reverend Harmston, a man devoted to building a microsociety in which there is a balance between the order that is necessary to produce livelihood and the freedom to fully explore sexuality. Setting up a commune in the remote Guyanese forest with the creed, "Hard work, frank love, and wholesome play," the reverend attempts to construct an ideal society that opens up cross-cultural dialogue between the spirit of European enlightenment and the culture of the native Amerindians. Underneath its generally comic tone, however, there are notes of a darker spirit at play--such as Harmston's unquestioned authority and the brutal punishments he hands out--that eerily foreshadow the actual 1978 Jonestown Massacre, a violent event that occurred 27 years after the novel's initial publication.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Barcode
Books	National Library of Jamaica	Daphne Douglas Reading Room	F Mit (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available	1000000008540
Books	National Library of Jamaica	Daphne Douglas Reading Room	F Mit (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available	1000000030427
Books	OCLC Data			Available	0000000002206

Portraying the dark, authoritarian side of the utopian dream, this classic novel tells the story of the Reverend Harmston, a man devoted to building a microsociety in which there is a balance between the order that is necessary to produce livelihood and the freedom to fully explore sexuality. Setting up a commune in the remote Guyanese forest with the creed, "Hard work, frank love, and wholesome play," the reverend attempts to construct an ideal society that opens up cross-cultural dialogue between the spirit of European enlightenment and the culture of the native Amerindians. Underneath its generally comic tone, however, there are notes of a darker spirit at play--such as Harmston's unquestioned authority and the brutal punishments he hands out--that eerily foreshadow the actual 1978 Jonestown Massacre, a violent event that occurred 27 years after the novel's initial publication.