F160. War Stories: Truth, Fiction, and Conflict

Room 301, Western New England MFA Annex, Level 3
Friday, February 28, 2014
10:30 am to 11:45 am

 

The truth of war is always multiple. Homer’s Iliad gives us both Achilles and Hector, just as Tolstoy’s War and Peace opens up a panorama of perspectives. Fiction offers an unparalleled medium to explore the conflicting truths of war, yet also offers dangers. How do we negotiate politics, witnessing, and voyeurism? How can we highlight war’s ugliness and still write a compelling story? How do we portray war’s beauty and still write an ethical one? Our panel explores these age-old problems.


Participants

Moderator:

Roy Scranton's work has appeared in The New York Times, Boston Review, New Letters, LIT, and Theory & Event. He is co-editor of Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War.

Phil Klay served in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq in 2007. He is the author of the forthcoming short story collection, Redeployment, and is a contributor to Fire and Forget: Short Stories From the Long War. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, and Tin House.

Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Bard College, and SUNY Albany. His novels include The Gabriel Club, The Storyteller of Marrakesh, and The Watch.

Peter Molin is a United States Army infantry officer who currently teaches in the Department of English and Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He has a PhD in English from Indiana University and deployment experience in the Sinai, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.

Hilary Plum

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February 7–10, 2024
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