Giorgio Mariani
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039751
- eISBN:
- 9780252097850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039751.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter examines the correlation between the Vietnam War and literary postmodernism in Tim O'Brien's “How to Tell a True War Story,” one of the short stories in the collection The Things They ...
More
This chapter examines the correlation between the Vietnam War and literary postmodernism in Tim O'Brien's “How to Tell a True War Story,” one of the short stories in the collection The Things They Carried. It considers the main structural weakness in O'Brien's narrative utopia as well as the paradoxes of war in the story. It shows how O'Brien's search for “truth” allows him to explore in a meandering though compelling way many of the rhetorical and moral dilemmas of the would-be anti-war writer. It argues that the story occupies an uncomfortable position between a postmodernist uneasiness with “truth,” on the one hand, and a rational commitment to rules for distinguishing between truth and falsehood, on the other. It suggests that O'Brien's imagination is a cognitive resource and, therefore, ultimately a political tool capable of unveiling the cowardice hidden behind what many call heroism, as well as the way even love can feed the monster of war.Less
This chapter examines the correlation between the Vietnam War and literary postmodernism in Tim O'Brien's “How to Tell a True War Story,” one of the short stories in the collection The Things They Carried. It considers the main structural weakness in O'Brien's narrative utopia as well as the paradoxes of war in the story. It shows how O'Brien's search for “truth” allows him to explore in a meandering though compelling way many of the rhetorical and moral dilemmas of the would-be anti-war writer. It argues that the story occupies an uncomfortable position between a postmodernist uneasiness with “truth,” on the one hand, and a rational commitment to rules for distinguishing between truth and falsehood, on the other. It suggests that O'Brien's imagination is a cognitive resource and, therefore, ultimately a political tool capable of unveiling the cowardice hidden behind what many call heroism, as well as the way even love can feed the monster of war.
Stephen Crane
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804775359
- eISBN:
- 9780804778459
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804775359.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Focusing on Stephen Crane, this chapter examines the most politically charged and profoundly symbolic of American actions: the act of aiming and firing a gun. This act is linked to Crane's short ...
More
Focusing on Stephen Crane, this chapter examines the most politically charged and profoundly symbolic of American actions: the act of aiming and firing a gun. This act is linked to Crane's short story “The Five White Mice” that extends his analysis of chance, ostensibly through gambling. Expressing his opposition to traditional liberal theories of free will and self-control, Crane links the accurate execution of one's intentions with imperial violence and connects random, aimless shooting with a preferable mode of ruthless egalitarianism. Crane's interest in aimless shooting has its roots in actual developments in the history of firearms and resulting changes in their use in modern battles. His fiction may be interpreted in relation to a set of neglected rifle training manuals and military strategy papers from the turn of the century. His war stories address, and attempt to reconcile, two competing and precisely opposed theories of shooting that were influential at the time: shooting is either chancy or virtually chanceless.Less
Focusing on Stephen Crane, this chapter examines the most politically charged and profoundly symbolic of American actions: the act of aiming and firing a gun. This act is linked to Crane's short story “The Five White Mice” that extends his analysis of chance, ostensibly through gambling. Expressing his opposition to traditional liberal theories of free will and self-control, Crane links the accurate execution of one's intentions with imperial violence and connects random, aimless shooting with a preferable mode of ruthless egalitarianism. Crane's interest in aimless shooting has its roots in actual developments in the history of firearms and resulting changes in their use in modern battles. His fiction may be interpreted in relation to a set of neglected rifle training manuals and military strategy papers from the turn of the century. His war stories address, and attempt to reconcile, two competing and precisely opposed theories of shooting that were influential at the time: shooting is either chancy or virtually chanceless.
Stacey Peebles
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449468
- eISBN:
- 9780801460944
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449468.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
Our collective memories of World War II and Vietnam have been shaped as much by memoirs, novels, and films as they have been by history books. This book examines the growing body of contemporary war ...
More
Our collective memories of World War II and Vietnam have been shaped as much by memoirs, novels, and films as they have been by history books. This book examines the growing body of contemporary war stories in prose, poetry, and film that speak to the American soldier’s experience in the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War. Stories about war always encompass ideas about initiation, masculinity, cross-cultural encounters, and trauma. The book shows us how these timeless themes find new expression among a generation of soldiers who have grown up in a time when it has been more acceptable than ever before to challenge cultural and societal norms, and who now have unprecedented and immediate access to the world away from the battlefield through new media and technology. Two Gulf War memoirs provide a portrait of soldiers living and fighting on the cusp of the major political and technological changes that would begin in earnest just a few years later. The Iraq War, a much longer conflict, has given rise to more and various representations. Books and other media emerging from the conflicts in the Gulf have yet to receive the kind of serious attention that Vietnam War texts received during the 1980s and 1990s. The book provokes much discussion among those who wish to understand today’s war literature and films and their place in the tradition of war representation more generally.Less
Our collective memories of World War II and Vietnam have been shaped as much by memoirs, novels, and films as they have been by history books. This book examines the growing body of contemporary war stories in prose, poetry, and film that speak to the American soldier’s experience in the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War. Stories about war always encompass ideas about initiation, masculinity, cross-cultural encounters, and trauma. The book shows us how these timeless themes find new expression among a generation of soldiers who have grown up in a time when it has been more acceptable than ever before to challenge cultural and societal norms, and who now have unprecedented and immediate access to the world away from the battlefield through new media and technology. Two Gulf War memoirs provide a portrait of soldiers living and fighting on the cusp of the major political and technological changes that would begin in earnest just a few years later. The Iraq War, a much longer conflict, has given rise to more and various representations. Books and other media emerging from the conflicts in the Gulf have yet to receive the kind of serious attention that Vietnam War texts received during the 1980s and 1990s. The book provokes much discussion among those who wish to understand today’s war literature and films and their place in the tradition of war representation more generally.
Victoria Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640997
- eISBN:
- 9780748651832
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640997.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter discusses how the rhetoric of secrecy enters the domestic sphere during and after wartime, and how it intersects with privacy, studying common wartime experiences, including evacuation ...
More
This chapter discusses how the rhetoric of secrecy enters the domestic sphere during and after wartime, and how it intersects with privacy, studying common wartime experiences, including evacuation and conscription, which had various effects on the family group. It includes several war stories. The chapter also discusses the possible effects war and wartime activities might have on the relationships of children and parents.Less
This chapter discusses how the rhetoric of secrecy enters the domestic sphere during and after wartime, and how it intersects with privacy, studying common wartime experiences, including evacuation and conscription, which had various effects on the family group. It includes several war stories. The chapter also discusses the possible effects war and wartime activities might have on the relationships of children and parents.
Diana C. Mutz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144511
- eISBN:
- 9781400840489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144511.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter aims to eliminate the need for others to learn by trial and error. The practical issues addressed here range from the process of explaining a population-based experiment to the ...
More
This chapter aims to eliminate the need for others to learn by trial and error. The practical issues addressed here range from the process of explaining a population-based experiment to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), to the issue of maximizing the effectiveness of a treatment in a population-based experiment. Different disciplines had different problems adapting to the idea of a population-based experiment, and the chapter uses various war stories to illustrate the kinds of problems most likely to plague users from different disciplines. The challenge of producing effective treatments involves simultaneously increasing the extent to which the independent variable is varied and reducing measurement error. Consideration of ethics and human subjects comes into play because there are important limits on what investigators can do by way of manipulation in the context of surveys.Less
This chapter aims to eliminate the need for others to learn by trial and error. The practical issues addressed here range from the process of explaining a population-based experiment to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), to the issue of maximizing the effectiveness of a treatment in a population-based experiment. Different disciplines had different problems adapting to the idea of a population-based experiment, and the chapter uses various war stories to illustrate the kinds of problems most likely to plague users from different disciplines. The challenge of producing effective treatments involves simultaneously increasing the extent to which the independent variable is varied and reducing measurement error. Consideration of ethics and human subjects comes into play because there are important limits on what investigators can do by way of manipulation in the context of surveys.
Chaity Das
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199474721
- eISBN:
- 9780199090815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199474721.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Indian History, Social History
This chapter marks a division of genre as we move from memoirs and testimonies to fiction. While most of the works under consideration are post-war stories, fiction written during the war without ...
More
This chapter marks a division of genre as we move from memoirs and testimonies to fiction. While most of the works under consideration are post-war stories, fiction written during the war without knowledge of the aftermath are also discussed. Both nationalist fiction and those critical of war and its aftermath sensitize us to what is at stake in remembering the foundational moment of Bangladesh. In their gaps and fissures lie the uncertain maps of the paths yet to be charted. Ranging from fiction that casts the suffering mother of a guerrilla and a martyr as a part of nationalistic lore to the victim of wartime rape running for cover in post-war Bangladesh, to the fear and anxieties of minorities after the war, authors articulate the narratives and tongues buried at the sites of national mythmaking. Works by authors such as Anwar Pasha and Selina Hossain are discussed.Less
This chapter marks a division of genre as we move from memoirs and testimonies to fiction. While most of the works under consideration are post-war stories, fiction written during the war without knowledge of the aftermath are also discussed. Both nationalist fiction and those critical of war and its aftermath sensitize us to what is at stake in remembering the foundational moment of Bangladesh. In their gaps and fissures lie the uncertain maps of the paths yet to be charted. Ranging from fiction that casts the suffering mother of a guerrilla and a martyr as a part of nationalistic lore to the victim of wartime rape running for cover in post-war Bangladesh, to the fear and anxieties of minorities after the war, authors articulate the narratives and tongues buried at the sites of national mythmaking. Works by authors such as Anwar Pasha and Selina Hossain are discussed.
I.F. Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846317552
- eISBN:
- 9781846317224
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846317552.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines the development of future-war fiction from 1871–1900. In 1871, the combined forces of press, politics and population sparked a chain reaction of future-war stories which ...
More
This chapter examines the development of future-war fiction from 1871–1900. In 1871, the combined forces of press, politics and population sparked a chain reaction of future-war stories which continued unabated until the outbreak of the First World War. From 1871 onwards not a year went by without the appearance of a tale of the war-to-come in Britain, France or Germany. As these tales of the war-to-come grew in numbers from the 1880s onwards, the range of their preoccupations expanded so that by the end of the nineteenth century a paradigm of military and political possibilities had come into existence both in Europe and in the United States.Less
This chapter examines the development of future-war fiction from 1871–1900. In 1871, the combined forces of press, politics and population sparked a chain reaction of future-war stories which continued unabated until the outbreak of the First World War. From 1871 onwards not a year went by without the appearance of a tale of the war-to-come in Britain, France or Germany. As these tales of the war-to-come grew in numbers from the 1880s onwards, the range of their preoccupations expanded so that by the end of the nineteenth century a paradigm of military and political possibilities had come into existence both in Europe and in the United States.
Kristiana Willsey
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781496804259
- eISBN:
- 9781496804297
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496804259.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, Mythology and Folklore
Unfortunately, coming to terms with disability and trauma are all too familiar foes for American combat veterans, many of whom receive inadequate, delayed, or nonexistent treatment options upon ...
More
Unfortunately, coming to terms with disability and trauma are all too familiar foes for American combat veterans, many of whom receive inadequate, delayed, or nonexistent treatment options upon returning home. We conclude this volume with chapter 10, “Falling Out of Performance: Pragmatic Breakdown in Veterans’ Storytelling,” in which Kristiana Willsey provides new insights into the ways in which U.S. military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan make meaning and process trauma through the sharing of narratives. She argues that naturalizing the labor of narrative—by assuming stories are inherently transformative, redemptive, or unifying—obscures the responsibilities of the audience as co-authors, putting the burden on veterans to both share their experiences of war, and simultaneously scaffold those experiences for an American public that (with the ongoing privatization of the military and the ever-shifting fronts of global warfare) is increasingly alienated from its military. Importantly, Willsey asserts that the public exhortations in which veterans tell their stories in an effort to cultivate a kind of cultural catharsis can put them in an impossible position: urged to tell their war stories; necessitating the careful management of those stories for audiences uniquely historically disassociated from their wars; and then conflating the visible management of those stories with the “spoiled identity” of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Less
Unfortunately, coming to terms with disability and trauma are all too familiar foes for American combat veterans, many of whom receive inadequate, delayed, or nonexistent treatment options upon returning home. We conclude this volume with chapter 10, “Falling Out of Performance: Pragmatic Breakdown in Veterans’ Storytelling,” in which Kristiana Willsey provides new insights into the ways in which U.S. military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan make meaning and process trauma through the sharing of narratives. She argues that naturalizing the labor of narrative—by assuming stories are inherently transformative, redemptive, or unifying—obscures the responsibilities of the audience as co-authors, putting the burden on veterans to both share their experiences of war, and simultaneously scaffold those experiences for an American public that (with the ongoing privatization of the military and the ever-shifting fronts of global warfare) is increasingly alienated from its military. Importantly, Willsey asserts that the public exhortations in which veterans tell their stories in an effort to cultivate a kind of cultural catharsis can put them in an impossible position: urged to tell their war stories; necessitating the careful management of those stories for audiences uniquely historically disassociated from their wars; and then conflating the visible management of those stories with the “spoiled identity” of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Philip Smith
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226763880
- eISBN:
- 9780226763910
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226763910.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
Why do nations choose to fight certain wars and not others? How do we bring ourselves to believe that the sacrifice of our troops is acceptable? For most, the answers to these questions are tied to ...
More
Why do nations choose to fight certain wars and not others? How do we bring ourselves to believe that the sacrifice of our troops is acceptable? For most, the answers to these questions are tied to struggles for power or resources and the machinations of particular interest groups. This book argues that this realist answer to the age-old “why war?” question is insufficient. Instead, it suggests that every war has its roots in the ways we tell and interpret stories. This book decodes the cultural logic of the narratives that justify military action. Each nation makes use of binary codes—good and evil, sacred and profane, rational and irrational, to name a few. These codes, in the hands of political leaders, activists, and the media, are deployed within four different types of narratives—mundane, tragic, romantic, or apocalyptic. With this cultural system, the book is able radically to recast our “war stories” and show how nations can have vastly different understandings of crises as each identifies the relevant protagonists and antagonists, objects of struggle, and threats and dangers. The large-scale sacrifice of human lives necessary in modern war requires an apocalyptic vision of world events. In the case of the War in Iraq, for example, the United States and Britain replicated a narrative of impending global doom from the Gulf War. But in their apocalyptic account they mistakenly made the now seemingly toothless Saddam Hussein once again a symbol of evil by writing him into the story alongside al Qaeda, resulting in the war's contestation in the United States, Britain, and abroad.Less
Why do nations choose to fight certain wars and not others? How do we bring ourselves to believe that the sacrifice of our troops is acceptable? For most, the answers to these questions are tied to struggles for power or resources and the machinations of particular interest groups. This book argues that this realist answer to the age-old “why war?” question is insufficient. Instead, it suggests that every war has its roots in the ways we tell and interpret stories. This book decodes the cultural logic of the narratives that justify military action. Each nation makes use of binary codes—good and evil, sacred and profane, rational and irrational, to name a few. These codes, in the hands of political leaders, activists, and the media, are deployed within four different types of narratives—mundane, tragic, romantic, or apocalyptic. With this cultural system, the book is able radically to recast our “war stories” and show how nations can have vastly different understandings of crises as each identifies the relevant protagonists and antagonists, objects of struggle, and threats and dangers. The large-scale sacrifice of human lives necessary in modern war requires an apocalyptic vision of world events. In the case of the War in Iraq, for example, the United States and Britain replicated a narrative of impending global doom from the Gulf War. But in their apocalyptic account they mistakenly made the now seemingly toothless Saddam Hussein once again a symbol of evil by writing him into the story alongside al Qaeda, resulting in the war's contestation in the United States, Britain, and abroad.
Stacey Peebles
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449468
- eISBN:
- 9780801460944
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449468.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter considers recent stories about the Iraq War. These stories describe the accidental killing of a child, eliciting feelings of guilt, helplessness, and frustration in soldiers fighting a ...
More
This chapter considers recent stories about the Iraq War. These stories describe the accidental killing of a child, eliciting feelings of guilt, helplessness, and frustration in soldiers fighting a war in which choices are impossible—not because they are morally ambiguous, but because often there is very little time or leeway to make a choice in the first place. Compared to their Vietnam counterparts, the soldiers who wrote these stories had even less agency. The death of a child is undeniably a bad thing, but in these circumstances almost impossible to avoid. Afterward, soldiers felt burdened by guilt and shame, even though those events were hardly the result of their careful, deliberate actions. The chapter also discusses the film The Hurt Locker (2009), which addresses the problems posed by suicide bombers, sectarian violence, urban warfare, and explosives that can be triggered by seemingly innocuous people and technology.Less
This chapter considers recent stories about the Iraq War. These stories describe the accidental killing of a child, eliciting feelings of guilt, helplessness, and frustration in soldiers fighting a war in which choices are impossible—not because they are morally ambiguous, but because often there is very little time or leeway to make a choice in the first place. Compared to their Vietnam counterparts, the soldiers who wrote these stories had even less agency. The death of a child is undeniably a bad thing, but in these circumstances almost impossible to avoid. Afterward, soldiers felt burdened by guilt and shame, even though those events were hardly the result of their careful, deliberate actions. The chapter also discusses the film The Hurt Locker (2009), which addresses the problems posed by suicide bombers, sectarian violence, urban warfare, and explosives that can be triggered by seemingly innocuous people and technology.
Steven Miller
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823256778
- eISBN:
- 9780823261406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823256778.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main themes. The book offers a philosophical reflection upon forms of violence that regularly occur in actual wars but do not often factor into the ...
More
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main themes. The book offers a philosophical reflection upon forms of violence that regularly occur in actual wars but do not often factor into the stories told about war. These stories—from Homer and Virgil to Kant, Clausewitz, Goya, Freud, Schmitt, and Derrida—revolve around killing and death. Through readings of these histories and texts, it is shown that war is among the most important achievements of human culture; that it is a complex institution governed by a system of idealized conventions or rituals; and that killing is foremost among these rituals. Rather than undermine civilization, war-and-death, functions to consolidate its fundamental limits.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main themes. The book offers a philosophical reflection upon forms of violence that regularly occur in actual wars but do not often factor into the stories told about war. These stories—from Homer and Virgil to Kant, Clausewitz, Goya, Freud, Schmitt, and Derrida—revolve around killing and death. Through readings of these histories and texts, it is shown that war is among the most important achievements of human culture; that it is a complex institution governed by a system of idealized conventions or rituals; and that killing is foremost among these rituals. Rather than undermine civilization, war-and-death, functions to consolidate its fundamental limits.