Abstract
The literature of war, independently of genre, tends to record the causes of the conflict, which are generally political and economic. But, it also tends to appoint a kind of aesthetics of reception, in other words, how the conflict is felt and registered by the experiences of the individual, whether soldier, writer, journalist or common reader. In Dispatches, the fantasies of the grunts, the allusions to the theory of dominoes, the necessity to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people, and the role of the press are condensed in this remarkable non-fictional narrative.
Highlights
The importance of the Battle of Khe Sanh overcomes its title, for the singular form just joins the great amount of battles it represents
It is important to stress that from the Tet Offensive, in the first quarter of 1968, onwards, the Vietnam War was not the same, since the number of harsh fights started diminishing and no other battle equals in meaning that of Khe Sanh, a conclusion based on the countless artistic pursuits which had this battle as their material or content
Like other narratives of war, such as Faulkner’s The Unvanquished and O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato, Dispatches is a collection of material produced apart and published separately elsewhere, in this case, in the Esquire, New York Review and Rolling Stone magazines
Summary
The importance of the Battle of Khe Sanh overcomes its title, for the singular form just joins the great amount of battles it represents. Dispatches has two main settings: Khe Sanh and the old cultural capital of Vietnam, Hue. The chapter “Hell Sucks” narrates the battle for Hue and when it was at its end.
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