Preface
Introduction: Vietnam as Figure and Symptom: “We’ve All Been There”
A Trauma Artist
The Fiction of Vietnam
“The Vietnam in Me”
O’Brien’s Endless War
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Vietnam
PTSD and Writing
O’Brien’s Art of Trauma
Writing Beyond Vietnam
Origins of "If I Die in a Combat Zone"
Fictionalized Testimony
O’Brien’s Self-Representation: Soldier Versus Writer
Moral Combat
"Combat Zone" as Source for a Career
Self-Displacement in "Northern Lights"
Literary Mimicry: Realism, Symbolism, Allegory
Harvey’s Story: Vietnam as Tragicomedy
Paul’s Story: The Feminization of Virtue
Novel Revisions
The Re-covering of Trauma: Paul Berlin as Tim O’Brien
"Cacciato": From Short Stories to Trauma Narrative
“Going After Cacciato”: From Catalog to Breakdown
Paul Berlin: From Breakdown to Trauma Writing
The Quest for Cacciato: Fantasy and the Burial of the Dead
The Observation Post: Retraumatization and Endless Fantasy
An Ambitious Failure?
The Traumatization of William Cowling
Parabolic Fiction: Mutual Assured Destruction and Civil Defense
"The Nuclear Age" and Vietnam
The Failure of William Cowling
Recirculated Trauma, Endless Fiction
"The Things They Carried" as Self-Revision
“How to Tell a True War Story”: Misreading Tim O’Brien
Other Refabrications of Trauma
“The Lives of the Dead”: Bringing Them Back Alive
Trauma, Tragedy, National Disgrace
Metafictional Investigations
The Breakdown of John Wade
Tragic Revisions
John Wade as Paradigm and Persona: Tim O’Brien’s Trauma
Psychobiography, History, and Fiction
Vietnam and the Age of Clinton
A Dictionary of Love
In Defense of Thomas Chippering
PTSD as Comedy/Vietnam as Parody
Saving Tim O’Brien: "Tomcat in Love" as Countertherapy
Posttraumatic Nation
Academic Polemics
Responsible Dreams
Appendix: "Diagnostic Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, DSM-IV"
Notes
References
Index