O'Brien

[davemarc]

At 11:50 PM 6/14/96 -0400, Bonnie wrote:
>On Fri, 14 Jun 1996, Wolfe, Skip wrote:
>
>> 
>> >>While i agree with previous contributors that Tim O'Brien is an
>> >>excellent writer writing about Vietnam, i'm not sure he (or anyone
>> >>else) has yet to produce the "great vietnam war novel".  Cacciato,
>> >>The Things they Carried and In the Lake of the Woods all are about a
>> >>people who were in Vietnam, but his best writing is about characters
>> >>dealing with the aftermath of Vietnam--Stone's "Dog Soldiers" is much
>> >>the same way...There is however, imho, a great vietnam movie, which
>> >>is apocalypse now (i know some people don't like coppola's stuff, but
>> >>i think, intentionally or not, it is one of the few films about any
>> >>war that is successfully unsentimental...)
>> 
>> I agree with Aaron.  I think "Apocalypse Now" is the only film (that I've 
>> seen, at least) that captures the surreal atmosphere of Vietnam -- the sort 
>> of "Ballad of a Thin Man" feeling that something was happening, but nobody 
>> knew exactly what.  My favorite Vietnam story, for what it's worth, is 
>> O'Brien's "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" from _The Things They Carried_ 
>> wherein he takes an improbable (well, pretty much impossible) premise and 
>> makes a story out of it that in some oblique way says a lot about the 
>> vietnam experience.  By the way, O'Brien's _If I Die in a Combat Zone_ is 
>> good nonfiction about Nam, as is the aforementioned _Dispatches_ by Michael 
>> Herr.
>> 
>>      Skip Wolfe
>>      crw4 at nip1.em.cdc.gov
>> 
>> 
>Wouldn't you say that GOING AFTER CACCIATO was surreal?  Wouldn't you also
>say that O'brien "takes an improbable  . . . premise and makes a story out
>of it that in some oblique way says a lot about the vietnam experience"???
>
>guess I'm defensive about it.  It seemed, to me, a wonderfully realistic
>surrealism (I know, but it's what I mean)--I mean, he actually does
>capture the absurdity of the war in the character of Cacciato, his
>actions, his influence on his comrades--the unlikely prospect of just
>walking away from the war--to Paris, no less?  (sorry, getting carried
>away I realize I'm taking awful liberties with the dash--).  In many ways,
>I was reminded of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE while reading GAC, and, well,
>that novel (SF) has always been a fav.
>
Going After Cacciato is definitely surreal.  There's good cause to be
reminded of SF, but also good cause to be reminded of Catch-22.  All three
feature terrific flights of (escape) fantasy.

davemarc (who doesn't claim to be the Andre Breton of Pynchon-l)