Tag Archives: Tim O'Brien

Wanted: Teachers, Not Martyrs

Some say teachers should, like soldiers, should put their lives on the line. This A.E. Housman poem brings up the question of whether even soldiers should do so when there sacrifice will be meaningless.

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Ask Vets to Tell You Their Stories

For Veterans Day, ask a vet for his or her story. Scott Bates and Tim O’Brien convey the importance of such storytelling.

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Great Pro-War Literature Doesn’t Exist

In which I argue that great pro-war literature doesn’t exist, including “The iliad” and “War and Peace.” (Both works are magnificent; I just don’t see them as pro-war.)

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Genesis: Story Truth, Not Happening Truth

The creation story in the Book of Genesis is magnificent poetry that resists the attempts of religious and scientific fundamentalists alike to reduce it to a scientific account.

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The Vital Necessity of Telling War Stories

To celebrate Memorial Day, listen to a veteran’s stories.

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Fiction Is Best Way to Tell God’s Story

Story-truth superior to happening-truth, in war stories and in Bible.

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The Right Wing’s War on Science

Tim O’Brien describes a character for whom facts are formed by sensation. Sounds like today’s right wing.

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Sweethearts Now Cleared for Combat

Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War story about a woman who goes rogue has things to teach us about the recent suspension of the Pentagon ban on women in combat.

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How to Tell a True War Story

Two weeks ago I was honored to participate in two conversations with high school classes about the Tim O’Brien Vietnam War novel The Things They Carried.  Carl Rosin, an English high school teacher and regular reader of this blog, set up the occasion. I have taught O’Brien’s marvelous work in our College’s 20th century English-Language […]

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