“In This Same Shamble of Strewn Bone”: Gods Go Begging and the Community of Loss

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This article argues that Alfredo Véa's Gods Go Begging challenges traditional American models of traumatic community. By bringing together multiple minority perspectives from both the Vietnam War and 1990s San Francisco, Véa explores how individual losses can structure more inclusive communal identities. These “communities of loss,” I contend, hinge on comparative, multidirectional narrative methods that bring traumatic events together—narratives that seek to do justice in the face of loss.