"You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let’s say, and afterward you ask, “Is it true?” and if the answer mat"You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let’s say, and afterward you ask, “Is it true?” and if the answer matters, you’ve got your answer. For example, we’ve all heard this one. Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast and saves his three buddies. Is it true? The answer matters. You’d feel cheated if it never happened. Without the grounding reality, it’s just a trite bit of puffery, pure Hollywood, untrue in the way all such stories are untrue. Yet even if it did happen—and maybe it did, anything’s possible—even then you know it can’t be true, because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Happeningness is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. For example: Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it’s a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, “The fuck you do that for?” and the jumper says, “Story of my life, man,” and the other guy starts to smile but he’s dead. That’s a true story that never happened."
Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried"
First I was quite fascinated with this book. It aligned with what I know about WWII, and now it worries me - because it could have been written based on common knowledge. And it could be a first-hand account.
If it is a first hand account, it is a harrowing story of survival and how concepts of good and evil get lost in times of war.
If it is not, then it's a modern formulaic war story borrowing a lot from "A Farewell to Arms", on the skeleton of war facts, decorated with generous amounts of gore and war crimes, likely written by an American. In this case, both the value and the morality of the story are questionable.
It is claimed that the book is a translation, but I was unable to find the German original and any history of its publication.
TL;DR what might be an interesting work of non-fiction would not be a good work of fiction. And the value of this book hinges on whether you believe it to be true evidence or a modern fantasy. I have not been able to verify the authenticity of the account and even the existence of the German original....more
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