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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Still Wrestling With The Consequences Of Combat

Author Karl Marlantes, author of “What It Is Like To Go To War.”

Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. When he came home, he suppressed the trauma of that experience, but eventually turned to writing as a form of therapy.

His 2010 novel “Matterhorn” was called the best novel of the Vietnam War ever written.

There has also been high praise for his latest non-fiction book, “What It Is Like To Go To War,” which has just come out in paperback.

“No matter what your religious stance, is there is a part of us that’s more than just our thinking and it’s connected to the whole universe in some way, and that’s what gets damaged when you kill other people,” Marlantes told Here & Now‘s Alex Ashlock.

Guest:

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • mattlove1

    So he’s proud of what he did as a Marine, and proud of what the Marine’s are doing now. I could care less about the damage to his connection with whole universe from killing other people. What a profoundly selfish, self-centered man. My concern is for the victims of American aggression, and how to stop American aggression.  We need to start thanking people like Nancy Kurshan for her service, and our public radio should be talking to her, and we should be listening to her, and trying to learn from her. And pigs should fly and Obama should earn his peace prize.  http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/09/rice-fields-resound-with-songs-and-bombs/

    • nandi

      Whoa.  It hurts me
      that Karl’s empathy and growth and insight were met with such meanness. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003000884786 Navin R Johnson

    What a curious interview…  

  • Dlucas

    Just watched the Bill Moyer’s interview with Karl.  I found it deeply moving and so reminiscent of my deceased husband’s battles with the ghosts of Vietnam.  Not many people are able to wrestle with, and somehow find clarity over their experiences.

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