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
lies matter means painful people themselves time work
People lie to themselves all the time about what they've been through and what it means - I'm no exception. But you write those lies down - lies that really matter to you and that are really painful to let go of because they've become a part of who you are - and they don't work.
marine time
I never thought anyone would pity me because of my time in the Marine Corps.
admirer huge love time whose work
I have, for a very long time, been a huge admirer of Marilynne Robinson, whose work I just love.
takes time understand war
War is complicated and intense, and it takes time and thoughts to understand what it was.
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.
according marines mood people politics suppose war
I suppose it is the lot of soldiers and Marines to be objectified according to the politics of the day and the mood of the American people about their war.
responsibility
Responsibility and accountability is a big part of being in the military.
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.
perceived
Pity addresses the perceived suffering, not the whole individual.
means unit
'Redeployment' is a military term. It means to transfer a unit from one area to another.
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.
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.
event lives parts
We're told that when we remember, the same parts of our brain light up as when we experienced the event we're remembering. Your brain lives through it again.
beginnings continue fear owed stories though
Though I continue to tell stories about Iraq, I sometimes fear this makes me a fraud. I feel guilty about the sorrow I feel because I know it is manufactured, and I feel guilty about the sorrow I do not feel because it is owed, it is the barest beginnings of what is owed to the fallen.