The Heathen

"The Heathen" is a short story by the American writer Jack London. It was first published in Everybody's Magazine in August 1910, and later included in the collection of stories by London, The Strength of the Strong, published by Macmillan in 1914.

In the story, two people, from different cultural and racial backgrounds, are the only survivors of a ship that encounters a hurricane in the Pacific, and they remain together.

Background

In 1907 London began a voyage across the Pacific Ocean in his ketch the Snark, and visited islands in the south Pacific, concluding the voyage in Sydney, Australia. He wrote about the adventure in his book The Cruise of the Snark. "The Heathen" is set among islands that London visited during that period.

Plot summary

The narrator, a pearl buyer named Charley, is a cabin passenger on a schooner, the Petite Jeanne, sailing from Rangiroa to Tahiti with a Kanaka crew, at the end of the pearling season in the Paumotas. The boat, having eighty-five deck passengers, is overloaded. Several passengers die of smallpox; Charley and the other cabin passengers drink whisky, until it runs out, in the belief that it will kill the smallpox germs.

Heathen

Heathen (plural heathens, collectively heathenry, adjective heathen) refers to someone who does not follow one of the major world religions, and who may or may not specify any other religious affiliation. More specific meanings include:

Other uses

See also

Heathen (Thou album)

Heathen is the fourth studio album by American metal band Thou. It was released on March 25, 2014 through Gilead Media.

Critical reception

The album generally received rave reviews from music critics. Allmusic critic Gregory Heaney praised the album, writing that it "rewards repeat listens with new surprises, giving anyone with the fortitude to wade through the muck and sludge even more glimpses at the warm, shoegaze center that lives at the heart of this doomy juggernaut." Iann Robinson of CraveOnline awarded the album with a perfect score, stating: "Heathen leaves you breathless, stammering for a way to process everything you’ve just heard." Robinson also added that the band "are able to translate the darkest parts of the human soul into music, and for that we should all be grateful."Pitchfork's Kim Kelly described the album as "a portrait of a band that is in complete harmony with itself, if not the world it inhabits." Michael Nelson of Stereogum regarded the record as "a dark, bombastic, hugely ambitious album of great sorrow, but perhaps even greater beauty," while Spin magazine described it as "the culmination of all that perspiration, almost cinematic in the scope of the suffering and seething anger it portrays."The Quietus' Robin Smith thought the record as "doom metal siren song – its beauty is incidental to a forever kind of pain."

Heathen (band)

Heathen is an American thrash metal band originating from the San Francisco Bay Area , founded in 1984 by guitarist Lee Altus and drummer Carl Sacco. They have released three albums, Breaking the Silence (1987), Victims of Deception (1991) and The Evolution of Chaos (2010).

History

First era (1984-1992)

Heathen was formed in 1984 by guitarist Lee Altus and drummer Carl Sacco (formerly of Metal Church), who later recruited lead vocalist Sam Kress and guitarist Jim Sanguinetti (Who went on to found the band Mordred). Shortly after their first gig in 1985, Kress and Sanguinetti left the group and were replaced by vocalist David Godfrey (formerly of Blind Illusion) and guitarist Doug Piercy (formerly of Anvil Chorus and Control). The band also recruited bassist Eric Wong around this time. This lineup debuted in early 1986 and soon became prolific around the Bay Area. Their early style could be described as the aggression of thrash metal combined with NWOBHM-style vocals and arrangements, acoustic intros or outros, and fast-paced melodic shred solos.