the fictive world of tim o'brien

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Hand, Head, and Artifice: The Fictive World of Tim O'BrienA Trauma Artist: Tim O'Brien and the Fiction of Vietnam by Mark Heberle; Tim O'Brien byTobey C. Herzog; Understanding Tim O'Brien by Steven KaplanReview by: Lynn WhartonInterdisciplinary Literary Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, Literary Ecocriticism (Fall 2001), pp. 131-135Published by: Penn State University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41206995 .Accessed: 03/10/2013 21:04

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Hand,Head, ndArtifice:TheFictiveWorld fTimO'Brien

LynnWhartonKingAlfred's ollege

Fine art s that n which he hand, hehead, nd the heart f man gotogether.

- Johnuskin,

he Two Paths

Mark Heberle. A Trauma Artist: Tim O'Brien and the Fiction ofVietnam. owa City: University f owa Press, 2001.ISBN0-87745-61-1.364pp. $19.95.

Tobey C. Herzog. Tim O'Brien. New York: Twayne, 1997. SBN 0-8057-7825-X.186pp.$33.

StevenKaplan. Understanding im O'Brien. Columbia: Universityof South Carolina

Press,1995. SBN 1-57003-007-3. 32

pp.$25.

Tim O'Brien has long been hailed as one of the most mportant odernAmerican riters o haveemerged rom he VietnamWar culture. is work owspansover three ecades and includes memoir nd six novels, ogether ithseveral hort tories nd nonfction ieces.His books have been translated ntomany anguages nd reissued ll over the world.Given O'Brien's continuingsuccess, hen, oth s a so-called Vietnam War writer" nd in less restrictiveliterary erms, t may perhaps eem odd that Mark Heberle' book A TraumaArtist s only hethird ritical work o date which ttempts n in-depth ssess-ment f O'Brien's work.

O'Brien has a growing ollowing almost mounting o a "fanship") mongreaders, ritics, ollege students, nd fellow Vietnam veterans. herefore, twouldbe logicalto assume that he two existing ooks on O'Brien,both pub-lished within hepast half-decade, ould be in ever-increasing emand romboth ritics nd ayreaders. ut not o.

StevenKaplan's 1995 book Understanding im O'Brien remained n theshelves nlybriefly, lmost mmediately eing aken ut of print fter ts nitialrun at the time of writing here eem to be no plans to revive t). Tobey Herzog's 1997 book Tim O'Brien s still vailablefrom ooksellers, ut t s notusuallykept s part f the mainstream helf tock. o we could perhaps e for-given or skingwhy heUniversity f owa Press has faith n the potential uc-

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cessof Heberle' volume.The answer, think, maybe expressed n cultural s well as literary erms.For many eople n the Western orld, heVietnamWar becameold news veryquickly fter America's nvolvement here nded n 1975. There was a notablereluctance mongAmericans o talk bjectively boutVietnam or he first wodecades after Americapulled out, which, oupled with O'Brien's somewhatrigid and largely ndeserved) ategorization s a Vietnam War writer, aygosome waytoward xplaining he ack of sustained ritical nterest n O'Brien'swork or he first wo nd a half ecadesof his career.

Now,at the urn f a new entury, generation f Americans ho possessesno direct

xperiencef the VietnamWar has come of

age.These readers re

beginning oengagewith O'Brien's books on many evels,often earching ordeepermeanings hat annot e extracted rom mere eenactment f war ex-periences factual r fictional). his new generation f readers s in a position oviewAmerica's nvolvementn Vietnamwithmore bjectivity han he genera-tionbefore t has done whether articipants r civilians).

Clearly, n upsurge f more bjective nterest n the ultural mplications fVietnam War writing pens the way for a more wide-ranging xploration fO'Brien's work,which, espitepopularmisconceptions, as never been con-cerned olelywith he ombat xperience, or ven with he returned eteran'sexperience. 'Brien's books re works f art wrought rom he rawmaterials fpersonal xperience n all its mysterious omplexity. he University f IowaPress's timely willingness opublish new full-length ork n O'Brien thusmarks turning-point f popular nterest n both he VietnamWar nd the itera-ture t has engendered.

Kaplan'sbook s the first ull-length ork f O'Brien criticism. n it, Kap-lan provides valuable nd accessible ntroduction imed at high chool andcollege students. n a logical progression f chapters eminiscent f conven-tional iterary tudy uides, Kaplanmoves from biographical verview ndcareer utline o an assessment f each of O'Brien's books,up to and ncluding

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In the Lakeof the Woods 1994).Kaplan clearly onforms o the belief hat is"life-and-works"tudy houldhelp readers o gain "an adequateunderstandingof how contemporaryiterature orks; hat s, what he uthor s attempting oexpress nd the meansby which t s conveyed" ix).

Kaplan'sbookpresents n understanding f the uthor s well as his workby drawing ttention o the lose ties between 'Brien's ife nd his writing. othis end, Kaplanrefers ack repeatedly o the nterview hich he conductedwith O'Brien in 1991.Kaplan's technique f turning nterviewmaterial ntoliterary riticism ncannily esembles 'Brien's own technique f turning uto-biographical aterial nto rt. n addition and perhaps s a result f O'Brien'sskill n seamlesslymelding act nd fiction n his writing), here s a strikingtendency, mong eaders nd critics like, oplacemore han passing mphasisupon what O'Brien says about himself nd his work. This tendency s, more-over, ncouraged at least n part by O'Brien himself, ho has givendozensof nterviews hroughout iscareer.

All three f the major riticalworks isted bovefollow he ame techniqueof interview-influencednterpretation f O'Brien's art. n his 1997book,con-structed round n interview e conductedwithO'Brien n 1995,Herzog nter-leaveshis critical nterpretation f O'Brien's writing ith iographicalnsightsinto the three main facets f O'Brien's personality as a son, soldier, nd au-thor).And now Heberle, oo, relies o a degreeuponthe material leanedfromthree eparate nterviewsas yetunpublished) hat e conducted ithO'Brien n1996 and 1998.

Whereas he biographical ontent f Kaplan's book s largely onfined othe ntroductory hapter, erzog' book runs much further ith he symbolicautobiographical aton.Herzog opens with chapter ntitled Anglesof Lifeand Art: on, Soldier, nd Author," theme hat xtends hrough ll the follow-ing chapters. obey Herzog, himself Vietnam eteran as indeed s Heberle),acknowledges hathe presents is book from somewhat ubjective tarting-point. His Introduction ontains n inventory f the things e feels he has in

commonwithO'Brien,whichhe refers o as "some ntriguing arallels nd dif-ferences n the ives of two baby boomers" ix). However, nlikemuch of theother riticism hat as sprung rom personal enseof connection ith he u-thor, Herzog' book goes on to address wider ange f what he describes sO'Brien's "narrative ngles f reality" n his writing.

Although t does not cover any significantly ewground n terms f thewider ultural mplications f O'Brien's work,Herzog's bookprovides valu-able extended xamination f the ways n whichO'Brien's personal xperiencesinform is writing. n a similar ein to Kaplan,Herzog, oo, s primarily on-cerned with presenting 'Brien as a writer hose creativity roceeds argely

from is own personality nd experiences. n consistently eturning o his themeof personal esonance n O'Brien's writing, erzog exposes some significant

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threads inking ll of O'Brien's books n terms f personality, eferring o"theteacher O'Brien" who developshis writing killsby "repeatedly eturning oissuesthat e cares bout" ix).

A few years n, however, eberle roceeds n a somewhat ifferent irec-tion assigning o small mportance o O'Brien's ownexperiences, o be sure,but lso acknowledginghatmuch f O'Brien's material such s the stensiblyautobiographical iece, The Vietnam n Me," recounting 'Brien's return isitto Vietnam n 1994,hisdepression ver he oss of a loved one, nd the death fhis publisher n the ame year is primarily work f iterary rt ather han nindulgence n confessional oul-baring.n 1997,Herzog itedO'Brieii s havingsaidthat e does notwant he

utobiographicalature f his fiction

riting o beused in support f "a pop-psychologynalysis f his ife or a facilereading fhis works s products f his ownpsychic herapy" 4). Yet the multiplicity finterviews ith 'Brien uggests hat e s not verse o orchestrating esponsesto his work. Repeatedly n nterview, 'Brien says that he takes his ife xperi-ences and turns hem nto fiction; hus, he reader s led by the uthor imselftoward belief hat O'Brien's work s primarily utobiographical.t is this veryact of nfluencing hat he reader and the nterviewer) elieves bouthis workwhich nderpins he rt or perhaps should ay artfulness) f O'Brien's writ-ing.Likethe magicianswho nhabit o much f his writing, 'Brien shows hisaudience

ustwhathe means hem o see. But at the ame time hat e s declar-

ing the work o be influenced y personal xperience, 'Brien also claims hathe wantshis readers o recognizing hefictionality ehind is work. herefore,in a sense,what O'Brien says about himself nd his work s truly he art thathides rt.

The title f Heberle' bookexpresses learlywhat O'Brien himselfmightcall the aboutness" f the book:that s, O'Brien s a writer ho creates rt utof trauma. he ideas behind his pparently imple itle re, however, arfromsimple. n this new work,Heberlehas, in his own words, ttempted to viewO'Brien's workswithin he framework f abnormal sychology nd posttrau-maticnarratives" xi). In the first hapter, or xample,Heberle ffers discus-sion of what Post-Traumatic tress Disorder PTSD) actually s, using theAmerican sychiatric ssociation riteria or ssessing nd classifying TSD.He usesthis o llustrate owVietnamWar trauma iterature roceeds rom ev-eral sources: he personalneed to bear witness; he haredwar/combat xperi-ence;participationn or observance f killing ivilians; heoutcome f theViet-namWar andAmerican omestic ttitudes othe War and ts combatants. hus,by utilizing oth psychological nd literary modes of research, Heberlecon-structs bridge onnecting he raditionallyxclusive isciplines f art nd sci-ence.

WhereHeberle' approachmoves n from hat f most ther 'Brien riticsis that he works hrough he urface ayer f apparent eteran-author utobiog-

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raphy o examine ot only hewider ultural mplications f VietnamWar writ-ing but also the deeper rtistic mpulses ontained n O'Brien's creative arra-tives. Heberle's new critical work hus represents valuable lternative iew-point ddressing hewidevariety f nfluences hat nderpin 'Brien's writing.

Works Cited

Heberle,Mark. Unpublished nterviews ith Tim O'Brien. Honolulu,, 14November 996;AnnArbor,MI, 18 October 998; Austin, X, 3 Novem-ber 1998.

Herzog,Tobey C. "Tim O'Brien Interview." he South Carolina Review 31(1998):78-109.

Kaplan, Steven. An Interview ith Tim O'Brien." The Missouri Review14March1991: 93-108.

O'Brien,Tim. "The Vietnam n Me." The NewYork imes Magazine2 October1994:48-57.

Ruskin,John. The Two Paths: Being Lectures on Art nd Its Application oDecoration and Manufacture, elivered n 1858-59. New York: Wiley,1876.

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