Vietnam, We've All Been There: Interviews with American Writers

(Hardback)

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Description

This book is a collection of interviews with noted American writers who made the Vietnam war a subject of their work. The writers represented here were chosen by Dr Schroeder because their books, plays, poems and reportage are among the best of the particular genre in which each one works - Norman Mailer, David Rabe and Michael Herr among them. Provocative not only for the opinions and memories of the interviewees, this book is also interesting for its focus on the variety of literary forms and styles that emerged from the Vietnam experience. The author makes the point that the more successful literature to come out of the war was from writers who stretched the limits of particular forms, giving birth to narratives that broke all the rules. For example, where journalism usually demands facts, Michael Herr, the author of "Dispatches", insisted on much more. He described psychological states, assessed personal losses and personified the war in ways that were radically different from accepted reporting. As Dr Schroeder reminds us, Vietnam deeply affected everyone who lived through it - thus there were many cultural effects that still beg for examination and thought. He spent nine years gathering these interviews and during that time the war was a constant presence in his life. For many Americans even a lifetime may not make it possible to come to terms with the war. In this book, the writers we hear from, like the works they created, aim to help us to remember the past with a reflective wisdom that is essential to informing our future.

Reviews

If you like writers as a class and are intrigued as to how they think about what they write, this is the book for you.-Indochina Chronology
In 11 illuminating interviews, novelists, journalists, and a playwright reflect on the role of Vietnam in their works. Schroeder, a lecturer in writing at the University of California-Davis, is a probing questioner, and his book has the quality of a rich dinner-table discussion.-Publishers Weekly
Schroeder has preserved the question-and-answer format of the interviews, allowing readers access to the progression of these specific and anecdotal conversations. His queries probe the writers' motivations and examine how they channeled their war experiences or obsessions into various literary forms.-Booklist
What makes Vietnam: We've All Been There compelling is that the interviewees reveal so much about themselves. Perhaps one of the most interesting interviews in the book is the one conducted with Norman Mailer. Mailer, as may come as no big surprise to those familiar with his work, voices his philosophies and views on Vietnam with audacious honesty. Others interviewed . . . are John Sack, Michael Herr, C.B.D. Bryan, Robert Stone, Tim O'Brien, Larry Heinemann, Bobbie Ann Mason, Bruce Weigl, and David Rabe.-Vietnam
"If you like writers as a class and are intrigued as to how they think about what they write, this is the book for you."-Indochina Chronology
"In 11 illuminating interviews, novelists, journalists, and a playwright reflect on the role of Vietnam in their works. Schroeder, a lecturer in writing at the University of California-Davis, is a probing questioner, and his book has the quality of a rich dinner-table discussion."-Publishers Weekly
"Schroeder has preserved the question-and-answer format of the interviews, allowing readers access to the progression of these specific and anecdotal conversations. His queries probe the writers' motivations and examine how they channeled their war experiences or obsessions into various literary forms."-Booklist
"What makes Vietnam: We've All Been There compelling is that the interviewees reveal so much about themselves. Perhaps one of the most interesting interviews in the book is the one conducted with Norman Mailer. Mailer, as may come as no big surprise to those familiar with his work, voices his philosophies and views on Vietnam with audacious honesty. Others interviewed . . . are John Sack, Michael Herr, C.B.D. Bryan, Robert Stone, Tim O'Brien, Larry Heinemann, Bobbie Ann Mason, Bruce Weigl, and David Rabe."-Vietnam

Author Bio

ERIC JAMES SCHROEDER is a Lecturer in English and Director of Composition at the University of California, Davis. His primary field of scholarship is the literature of the Vietnam war. He has also published articles and given numerous conference papers on topics related to composition and, in particular, computer-assisted instruction. Dr. Schroeder is a co-founder and editor of Writing on the Edge, a journal concerned with the art of writing and the teaching of it. He is currently working on a second book about the Vietnam war.