Phil Klay
Phil Klay
Phil Klayis an American writer and United States Marine officer who won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014 for his first book-length publication, a collection of short stories, Redeployment...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
CountryUnited States of America
apart breaking experience language marine poem terms thinking voices waste
When I was in Marine training I memorised 'The Waste Land,' which was a significant experience in terms of really breaking apart language and thinking about how the different voices in that poem function.
civilian mean might terms using
We're so used to using military terminology in civilian speech that we forget those terms might mean something very specific.
citizens elect issue send states themselves united
Marines and soldiers don't issue themselves orders; they don't send themselves overseas. United States citizens elect the leaders who send us overseas.
perceived
Pity addresses the perceived suffering, not the whole individual.
antsy dodge head letting someplace spin
I write in coffee shops, libraries, parks, museums. I get antsy and then get on my bike and go someplace else, letting the ideas spin around in my head as I dodge taxis.
foreign generally state union
In State of the Union addresses, I always look at the foreign policy and military parts first, which are generally pretty minimal.
casualties civilian coverage outlets
The First Battle of Fallujah was called off in part because of the intensity of non-U.S. media coverage of civilian casualties from outlets like Al Jazeera.
complexity experience favor narratives nuances pity reducing
Pity sidesteps complexity in favor of narratives that we're comfortable with, reducing the nuances of a person's experience to a sound bite.
arbiter engage experience figure people ultimate work
I think that just because you've been through an experience doesn't make you the ultimate arbiter of what it means. We figure things out; we work things out through the help of other people who can engage with us but also be intelligently critical.
empathetic fairly iraq learn mean pull relationship returned serious time willing
The Iraq I returned from was, in my mind, a fairly simple place. By which I mean it had little relationship to reality. It's only with time and the help of smart, empathetic friends willing to pull through many serious conversations that I've been able to learn more about what I witnessed.
flattened gets war
Oftentimes, discussion of war gets flattened to a discussion of trauma.
admitting cracks excitement experience full hell novel war
If you write a novel where war is nothing but hell and no one experiences excitement or cracks a dark joke, then you're not actually admitting the full experience.
broad exposes kinds marine people segment war
In the Marine Corps, you meet this really broad segment of the country; you're working with people from all kinds of backgrounds. And it exposes you to the American military, particularly the American military at war.
argument cold larger peace peacetime provided since war
The Cold War provided justification for a larger peacetime military, since we were never really at peace, or so the argument went.