War Experience and Trauma in American Literature (WIP)

[Lena]

Dear forum members,

I am currently working on my dissertation in American Studies. I am at the beginning of my third year and while I nailed out my question, I could use some advice, to see my trees more clearly so to speak.

I am researching military memoirs and fictional texts which focus on the experience of enlisted soldiers or junior officers (Infantry)deployed to Iraq. I've selected several texts which I am analyzing regarding the presentation of the Iraq War, strategies of fictionalization employed by the authors, the fictionalization of traumatic events and war experience, and the strategies used by the authors to address the reader.

While I've read Thomas Ricks's "Making the Corps," I am still searching for a comparable insight perspective describing the US ARMY. I am hopeing that some of you could give me some pointers.

Also, I am trying to nail down my final selections of memoirs and texts to include. The current list is:
Folsom, Seth "The Highway War"
Fick, Nate "One Bullet Away"
Buzzell, Colby "My War: Killing Time in Iraq"
Crawford, John" "The Last True Story I'll ever Tell"
Worksman, Jeremiah "In the Shadow of the Sword"
Bellavia, David "House to House"
Gallagher, Matt "Kaboom"
van Winkle, Clint "Soft Spots"

Novels:

Zimmerman, David "The Sandbox"
McCormick, Patricia "Purple Heart"
Larson, Luke "The Senator's Son"
Meyers, Walter Dean "Sunrise over Fallujah"

If you have any suggestions which texts I could or even should include, please don't hesitate to recommend!

Thanks!
Lena

[Pete]

Although it isn't about the war in Iraq, the book Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War by Gerald Linderman, available here, is an interesting study on the shifting perception of the war during and after the conflict. The author argues that the initial idealism about honor and courage when the war began in 1861 turned into bitter disillusionment in 1863-65, only to be replaced by a kind of nostalgia for "the good old days" by many of the veterans starting in around 1880. The book may be good background for your project.

[Lena]

Thanks! This book is already on my shelf and at the top of my reading list. I am looking for a text that provides insights into the modern day US Army from an enlisted soldiers and/or junior officer's point of view.
I'd be glad for any recommendations...

Lena

[Pete]

Company Commander by Charles B. MacDonald gives a junior infantry officer's point of view, but it's about World War II. He wrote it shortly after the war.

[Monk]

I found the book "Achilles in Vietnam" by Dr. Jonathan Shay, a psychiatrist for the Boston Department of Veterans' Affairs and a member of the faculty of Tufts Medical School to be pretty near the mark.

"Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming" also by Jonathan Shay is very good.

Also "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" has a lot of interviews that may be of use to you as well.

[Lena]

Thanks! I will have a look at these texts,

Lena

[Monk]

Thanks! I will have a look at these texts,

Lena

Given your topic they may help you to group what the character is going through with some recognized PTSD themes. They will certainly give you all the background you need.

[Lena]

That's true. Especially since this is a part which I am struggling with. Thanks for your help!