Vietnam Was The First Time That Americans

When I First Got Back From The War, I Said, 'i'm Gonna Write The Great American Novel About The Vietnam War.' So I Sat Down And Wrote 1,700 Pages Of Sheer Psychotherapy Drivel. It Was First Person, And There Would Be Pages About Wet Socks And Cold Feet.

He Lay Before God As A Woman Opens Herself To A Man, With Legs Apart, Stomach Exposed, Arms Open. But Unlike Some Women, He Did Not Have The Inner Strength That Allowed Them To Do Such A Thing Without Fear. There Was No Woman’s Strength In Mellas At All.

I Was Given The Ability To Create Stories And Characters. That's My Part Of The Long Chain Of Writers, Publishers, Agents, Booksellers, Librarians, And A Host Of Others Who Eventually Deliver Literature To The World. I Want To Do For Others What Eudora Welty Did For Me.

I Mean... If You're Raised As A Decent Human Being, Killing Somebody Is Against Every Moral Thing You've Ever Been Taught. And So, Generally, In Combat It's 'krauts,' The 'gooks,' The 'yanks' - Whatever You Want To Do To Try And Make It So That It's Not A Human Being.

In The Military I Could Exercise The Power Of Being Automatically Respected Because Of The Medals On My Chest, Not Because I Had Done Anything Right At The Moment To Earn That Respect. This Is Pretty Nice. It's Also A Psychological Trap That Can Stop One's Growth And Allow One To Get Away With Just Plain Bad Behavior.