10 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
understand what veterans had gone through. Tim O’Brien’s If I Die in the Combat
Zone (1973) explores the conflict the author faced between his moral objections to
war and reluctance to ignore his draft notice. In Born on the Fourth of July (1976)
Ron Kovic explains his progression from innocent and idealistic teen soldier, to
wounded and wheelchair-bound veteran, to social activist. Philip Caputo’s auto-
biographical A Rumor of War (1977) provides an account of his 1965–1966 tour of
duty as a marine lieutenant. Characterizing the work as “a story about war, about the
things men do in war and the things war does to them,” Caputo describes events
leading to his court-martial (charges were eventually dropped) and confronts the
notion that moral decay is a by-product of war. In the fast-paced Dispatches (1977)
journalist Michael Herr moves beyond reportage to convey the terror, violence, and
senselessness of war, memories he brought to the screenplays for Apocalypse Now
(1979) and Full Metal Jacket (1987), on which he collaborated.
Much of the fiction and poetry published after the war also deals directly
with combat and its effects. In The 13th Valley (1982) John M. Del Vecchio uses
meticulous battle details, maps, and historical reports to re-create war operations
in a realistic fashion. Just as significant are the emotional responses of his char-
acters, which he contrasts with historical reports about battles. Indeed, veteran-
writers became equally, if not more, interested in conveying subjective, rather than
objective, experience. In Paco’s Story (1986), for example, Larry Heinemann uses
flashback and the narrative voices of members of the title character’s dead platoon
to convey Paco’s guilt and the haunting memory of war for survivors.
Heinemann’s novel begins with the assertion that “War stories are out,” set-
ting the stage for the novel’s overt critique of idealistic stories about war and those
who believe in these simplistic versions. Also focusing on subjective experience
and storytelling are O’Brien’s Going after Cacciato (1978), considered by many the
definitive Vietnam War novel, and The Things They Carried (1990). The interplay
between fact and imagination is evident in O’Brien’s work as he explores the ways
historical events are transformed by memory, imagination, and retelling. His work
highlights the relevance of storytelling as a way not merely to recount events but
to “save” those who tell and listen. Through stories, survivors cope with traumatic
events such as war.
Other writers sought to depict the war through poetry while also trying to
make sense of, and recover from, their experiences. In the war poems in Caliban in
Blue (1976) and After the Noise of Saigon (1988) Walter McDonald spares readers
sentimental and moral interpretations of war; the later book, especially, includes
darker and more-disturbing imagery than his previous works as he seeks recovery
from wartime violence. Bruce Weigl’s poems, collected in A Romance (1979), The
Monkey Wars (1985), and Song of Napalm (1988), provide the conflicting images
and emotions faced by soldiers from their military induction to their return home
from the war. His poems also expose, and attempt to exorcise, wartime experi-
ences, as do those by poet W. D. Ehrhart, whose collections include A Generation
of Peace (1975). While conveying the brutality of war, Kevin Bowen’s collection
Playing Basketball with the Viet Cong (1994) is deeply sympathetic toward those
affected by war, soldier and civilian alike. Like Bowen, John Balaban offers a
more complex look at the Vietnamese. His experience as a conscientious objector,