Vietnam and Beyond
：Tim O'Brien and the Power of Storytelling
Publication subTitle ：Tim O'Brien and the Power of Storytelling
Author： Stefania Ciocia
Publisher： Liverpool University Press
Publication year： 2012
E-ISBN: 9781781386958
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9781846318207
P-ISBN(Hardback): 9781846318207
Subject：
Language： ENG
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Description
Vietnam and Beyond: Tim O’Brien and the Power of Storytelling is a comprehensive, in-depth study of one of the most thought-provoking writers of the Vietnam war generation. This volume breaks away from previous readings of O’Brien’s development as a trauma artist and an outspoken chronicler of the American involvement in Vietnam: its thematic, rather than chronological, approach contextualizes O’Brien’s work beyond the confines of war literature. The necessary exploration of O’Brien’s recurrent engagement with the conflict in Vietnam leads to a thorough discussion of the writer’s revision of key American (and western) ideas and concerns: the association between courage, heroism and masculinity, the celebration of the pioneering spirit in the frontier narrative, the sense of superiority in the encounter with foreign civilizations, the fraught relationship between power and truth, or reality and imagination, and the attempt and the right to speak about unspeakable events. All these themes, as Ciocia illustrates, highlight O’Brien’s compelling preoccupation with the role and the ethical responsibility of the storyteller. With his clear privileging of ‘story-truth’ over ‘happening-truth’, O’Brien makes a bold, serious investment in the power of fiction, as testified by his formal experimentations, metanarrative reflections and sustained meditations on matters such as individual agency, moral accountability and authenticity. Approached from this fresh perspective, O’Brien emerges as a figure deserving to find a wider audience and demanding renewed scholarly attention for his remarkable achievements as a contemporary mythographer, an acute observer of the human condition and a sharp critic of American culture. Vietnam and Beyond is a comprehensive, in-depth study of Tim O’Brien, one of the most thought-provoking writers of the Vietnam war generation. It is the first major new study of this important writer in over ten years. First major new study of this important writer in over ten years Presents new ways of reading O’Brien’s work Focusses on the ‘Americanness’ of his themes as well as on his renowned status as a ‘Vietnam War writer’ Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction 1. Introduction 2. The Courage of Authenticity 3. Remapping the National Landscape 4. Trauma, Gender and the Poetics of Uncertainty 5. The Power of Storytelling Works Cited Index Now available in paperback First major new study of this important writer in over ten years Presents new ways of reading O’Brien’s work Focusses on the ‘Americanness’ of his themes as well as on his renowned status as a ‘Vietnam War writer'
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