Vietnam War (and Antiwar) Literature 19
Vietnam War (and Antiwar) Literature
Literature of the Vietnam War crosses genres, appearing in poetry, fiction, drama,
memoir, and other nonfiction literary forms. The complex and varied literary images
in these works match the public’s complicated and conflicting views of the war with
representations echoing the changes in American popular and political culture. No
monolithic version of the Vietnam War exists in literature. Depicted instead are a
wide variety of experiences and equally diverse perspectives offered by both combat-
ants and noncombatants. Despite their differences, literary works about the conflict
in Vietnam try to make sense of, and come to terms with, the war as it progressed
and changed over time. Through writing, authors, often veterans themselves, hope
to convey the experiences of those involved while also understanding the cultural
and political reasons behind the war and the reactions to it at home.
As the number of American troops began to increase in Vietnam in the mid
1960s, writers began using their work to protest the war, denouncing it on moral,
political, and social grounds. Norman Mailer’s novel Why Are We in Vietnam?
(1967) answers the title’s question in its depiction of a character’s unfair hunt-
ing tactics and obsessive desire to kill a grizzly bear; the war for him reflects the
nation’s arrogance and immorality. Robert Bly, who helped found American Writ-
ers against the Vietnam War in 1966, used poetry to decry what he considered
America’s unjust participation in the war. The Teeth-Mother Naked at Last (1970),
one of Bly’s best-known collections, captures the chaos and violence of combat
while questioning the authority that condones it. Bly was joined by other poets
who actively protested the war in their writing and participated in antiwar groups
on and off college campuses; these poets include Muriel Rukeyser, Adrienne
Rich, W. S. Merwin, and Denise Levertov.
Those who served in Vietnam also began publishing before the last troops
came home on 29 March 1973. Like those of novelists and poets who did not
serve, the works of veterans provide an alternative to official accounts and expla-
nations. Deriving from the writers’ service “in country,” they tend to refrain from
making explicit political statements about the war. Michael Casey’s collection
Obscenities (1972), winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets award, displays
frightening images from the war zone inspired by his experience as a military
police officer in Quang Ngai province but without moral judgments or com-
ments. Similarly, David Rabe, who also served in Vietnam, did not write his plays
to make a political statement about the situation there but rather to highlight the
struggle of individuals faced with powers beyond their control and to question
the incongruity of idealism and war in general. His Vietnam War trilogy includes
Sticks and Bones (first produced as Bones, 1969; revised, 1971), The Basic Training
of Pavlo Hummel (produced, 1971; published, 1973), and Streamers (produced,
1976; published, 1977).
Works written by veterans continued to appear after the war ended with the fall
of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Using a variety of genres and experimenting with style,
voice, and narrative structure, writers continued to seek the truth about America’s
role in Vietnam. Several writers used memoir to convey personal experiences and
the effects of the war on individuals to the American public, who, they felt, did not