"A sketchbook is a secret thing, a collection of unfinished and often times abandoned ideas never intended for public consumption—at least not in their current state. It’s a private space for honing one’s craft and workshopping, separating good ideas from those best left unexplored." -Brian Heater at The Daily Cross Hatch.

15 August 2010

Matterhorn


I've been tearing through Karl Marlantes' Vietnam novel "Matterhorn", which set my mind and pen wandering to draw this sketch. (This is taken from Larry Burrow's Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken atop "Mutter's Ridge" in 1966.) Having read a ton of Vietnam novels in my day, I can offer the informed opinion that "Matterhorn" is one of the best Vietnam novels, if not one of the best war novels ever written. There's no hackneyed patriotism or testosterone fueled chest thumping manly action. The bravery and heroism displayed in the book are demonstrated by men who simply survive horrific, grueling conditions that are sometimes (often) created by the whims of the 'politically' ambitious.

A poster on Terminal Lance (who I assume knows from whence he speaks) says that the novel could have taken place during our current war, implying that the more things change the more they stay the same. Indeed, Marlante's publishers urged him to change it and make it about Iraq or Afghanistan.

What makes it unique from most Vietnam fiction is that racial tension is one of the main drivers of the story. (Marlantes says that in early drafts he tried to avoid it but couldn't.) In James Webb's Fields of Fire (which I consider to be the best novel about Vietnam), racial issues create some of the conflict, but not to the extent they do in "Matterhorn". I chose to sketch the image above, because it exemplifies how Marines in line units transcended racial friction- even though Marlantes says that once they were out of the field, that same tension became impossible to ignore.

There are parts of the book which are grueling and exhausting to read and make you wonder how anyone could have survived. Very little war literature (with the exception of "The Thin Red Line") approaches the vivid detail and intensity in which the suffering sustained by Marlantes' Marines (and Sailors) is illustrated.

Anyways. Hell of a book. I'm glad it made it into print.

7 comments:

  1. Webb's book isn't bad, but there are several others I think are better. One that immediately comes to mind is Robert Roth's "Sand in the Wind". Probably long out of print.
    Boat Guy

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  2. The reason why I like "Fields of Fire" so much is because Webb wrote it relatively shortly after he returned from Vietnam and his anger was fresh and vivid. He was still kind of "in the moment", which to me makes it an important document.

    Granted, he's not the most eloquent wordsmith. It just felt very authentic.

    I've never heard of "Sand in the Wind". I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip, Boat Guy!

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  3. If I remember right, Roth wrote Sand in the Wind while finishing his degree just after coming home. I read it about 1973 so it's very "fresh". It illustrates many of the things you note from Matterhorn
    Boat Guy

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  4. thanks for the reading suggestions. i'll get matterhorn, read it, and pass it along to my brother who was in vietnam.

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  5. Boat Guy- I just ordered "Sand in the Wind" from my library- unfortunately there were only a couple of copies in my entire state! I'm looking forward to reading it. Reviewers on Amazon seem to give it very high marks. I'm surprised I never heard of it before now!

    Tugster- I've found that Vietnam literature varies in the experiences it portrays according to service branch, year and location, so your brother might not identify with it unless he was an infantry Marine in 1969 stationed along the Laotian border- but it'll be interesting to see what thinks about it.

    Do you have any books to recommend? I just fizzled out with John Dos Passos' "Manhattan Transfer"...

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  6. In reading the reviews at Amazon, I saw the other title I was going to commend to you; "Body Count" by william Turner Huggett. I recall being impressed by that one as well.
    I was a Marine in the waning days of Vietnam, never got in-country but many of the guys I served with had. The parts of these books that I knew (Parris Island etc) rang true so by extension I'd give credibility to the rest.
    Boat Guy

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  7. Boat Guy...Drop me a line at my email (coldisthesea09@yahoo.com). I like to ask you a couple of questions about the Marines. Thanks!

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