158 "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

Arts, History, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2018

⏱️ 124 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1960s and '70s, the Vietnam War dominated the hearts and minds of a generation of Americans. In 1990, the American writer Tim O'Brien, himself a former soldier, published "The Things They Carried," a short story that became an instant classic. Through its depiction of the members of a platoon in Vietnam, told largely through the tangible and intangible things in their possession as they humped their way through the jungle, O'Brien's story captures the soul and psyches of young men engaged in a war they cannot understand and filled with a longing for home that must compete with the brutal circumstances of present-day reality. In this episode of the History of Literature, host Jacke Wilson reads the entire short story "The Things They Carried," then invites Mike Palindrome, President of the Literature Supporters Club, to join him for a discussion of the Vietnam War and the literary masterpiece it gave rise to. Support the show at patreon.com/literature. Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and @literatureSC. Or send an email to jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.
0:07.0	It's dawned.
0:13.0	dawned and Alpha Troop 1-9 is commuting to war.
0:17.0	21 GIs bound for a jungle clearing a mile from the Cambodian border.
0:23.0	American soldiers hiking their way through the sweaty jungles of South Vietnam, searching for an elusive enemy.
0:30.0	The temperature is almost 100 degrees and the jungle stifles even the
0:35.6	tiniest breeze. The going is slow. There could be a North Vietnamese regiment hiding
0:40.9	a few yards away and no one would see it.
0:44.0	Nobody talks so you start thinking.
0:47.0	Specialist for Duane Bloor is thinking he's going to meet his fiance in Honolulu in two weeks,
0:53.3	and he will show her the silver star
0:55.4	the general pinned on him yesterday.
0:59.1	Devay is the lone medic in the platoon.
1:01.8	He's scared, scared from the moment he gets out of the chopper to the
1:05.3	moment it picks him up, scared that someday he's going to get killed picking up a wounded
1:10.7	buddy. Jorgensen just became a sergeant, but he doesn't like it.
1:15.2	He'd rather be up walking point where the action is.
1:18.3	He's already got three purple hearts, so everybody calls him hero. Then there's lieutenant hubley. Everybody calls him blue.
1:25.8	That's his radio call. Blue didn't want to come to Vietnam and he'd much rather be
1:31.3	a businessman than a soldier. But right now he's in charge of the lives of 21 men.
1:37.0	Somewhere in this jungle there's several hundred North Vietnamese soldiers who could wipe out this little American unit to the last man in an unguarded moment. Today though it's quiet, a few bunkers uncovered, then a quick lunch and back down the trail to the pickup zone.
1:54.0	Just a peaceful walk in the sun. Hello, I'm Jack Wilson. Literature and the Vietnam War today on the history of literature. Okay, here we go. I'm Jack Wilson. Welcome to the podcast. We're talking about Tim O'Brien today, and his classic short story, The Things They Carried.
	...

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