Disarming memories: Japanese, Korean, and American literature on the Vietnam war

Abstract

This essay ventures into a comparative literature analysis of the Vietnam War through the study of novels written by selected American, Japanese, and Korean authors. Popular American writers have generally concentrated on the soldier's rite of passage from the naïve and rough and tumble recruit to the angry, disillusioned vet. The content of this journey deals primarily with the veteran's personal experiences of the war. One learns almost nothing about Vietnam, or about the larger meaning of the war itself. Like looking out at the world through two slats of a Venetian blind, the American chronicler observes a limited view of the action. A great deal of the writing concentrates on one's inner life, and one's inner passage. In contrast to this Gothic view of the war, Japanese and Korean writers take a broader and historical view of the war. They concentrate on Vietnam's geography, people, religions, and the causes of the war. They place the war in a historical and cultural context. They look at Vietnam as well as at the war. By looking at the way selected Asian writers view the war, Americans can understand why we see and understand the war differently. The essay concludes by suggesting how a better war story might be written.