Feminist Criticism and the Literature of the Vietnam Combat Veteran
Feminist Criticism and the Literature of the Vietnam Combat Veteran
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FEMilNiST CRiTiciSM
ANd lliE
LITERATURE of
ThE VIETNAM
CoiVlbAT VETERAN
K aIi TaL
For years I have been both a student of feminist critical theory,
and a reader of Vietnam War literature by com bat veterans. The two
p u rsu its seem to have little in common, and, although I believe th a t I
always read a s a feminist, I could not connect my interest in Vietnam
War literature to my interest in feminist criticism. Infact, I often puzzled
over my seemingly paradoxical fascination with the m alest of male
literature; I am rarely attracted to other fictions by white m en, b u t there
was always something about literature by veterans th a t captured my
interest and imagination.
The first clue to the mystery appeared when I began to read
critical interpretations of Vietnam War literature, and to use th e tools of
feminist theory to u n d erstand the strengths and w eaknesses of those
interpretations. Critical preoccupation with “reality” was immediately
apparent: reviews and articles and major critcal studies often stressed
the “gritty realism ”, “authenticity,” and “power” of these books; their
ability to portray “Nam—the way it really w as.”1 There seemed to be a
symbiotic relationship between au th o r and reviewer (man-to-man)
which was predicated on the reviewer’s acceptance of the a u th o r’s
objectivity or “knowledge”. The only way the reviewer could know
w hether the au th o r’s tale was authentic was if the reviewer had, even
vicariously, experienced war. By confirming the “tru th ” of the tale, the
reviewer places him self in the club of m en who have survived war. The
few women who review Vietnam War literature are placed in an awkward
position. They can choose to work within the framework generated by
writers an d the male reviewing establishm ent; however, they are, by
gender, excluded from the club though they may speak admiringly of
“realistic characters,”“gruesome descriptions ofcombat, moving dialogue,
and...effective recounting of the tension and th e moral dilemm as of
facing m en in com bat.”2
An alternative to working within the m asculine framework has
been generated by some feminist scholars, among them J e a n Elshtain,
whose Women and War contains a striking analysis of the audience for
Vietnam narratives, and in which she suggests th a t “the Vietnam vets’
struggle for self definition emerges as a form of individual and collective
therapy, a public and private discourse.”3 Also working outside the
traditional critical framework is Jacqueline Lawson, whose paper, “She’s
a Pretty Woman...for a Gook: The Misogyny of the Vietnam War”4offered
a radical critique ofmilitary and social attitudes toward women. But, for
the most part, feminist scholars do not seem interested in working with
Vietnam War literature. This may be due, in part, to the fact that few
genres apart from violent pornography offer such negative images of
women.5It may also result from their belief that work with Vietnam War
literature does not offer any great opportunities to further develop
thencritical techniques and strategies.
Iwould, however, like to make a case for intensive feminist study
of Vietnam War literature based on the assumption that its primary
interest is as literature of trauma.
An author has a special psychological involvement in the creation
of a narrative bom out of traumatic experience. This involvement has
been well documented in studies such as Eric Leed s No Man’s Land:
Combat and Identity in World War 1, Paul Fussell’s The Great War arid
Moden Memory, Gerald Lindeman’s Embattled Courage: The Experience
of Combat in the American Civil War, Arthur Egendorfs Healingfrom the
War (Vietnam), Robert J. Lifton’s Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima,
and Victor Frankl’s From Death Camp to Existentialism.6 Each of these
works points to the intimale relation between the traumatic experience
and the symbols generated by that experience. An understanding of the
psychological effects of trauma can serve as a tool for interpreting
literature by combat veterans. Recent analyses have incorporated many
of the issues discussed in the psychiatric literature describing
PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association formally
acknowledged the existence of the disorder by including it in the new
edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual o f Mental Disorders III.
According to the APA, PTSD is a series of symptoms which follows a
trauma “generally outside the range of usual human experience”.7
The characteristic symptoms include autonomic arousal, which
is often manifest in panic attacks or startle reactions; a
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