Karl Marlantes
Karl Marlantes
Karl Marlantesis an American author, businessman, and decorated Marine veteran. He has written two books: Matterhorn and What It Is Like to Go to War...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth24 December 1944
CountryUnited States of America
writing years agents
I began writing 'Matterhorn' in 1975 and for more than 30 years I kept working on my novel in my spare time, unable to get an agent or publisher to even read the manuscript.
war writing feet
When I first got back from the war, I said, 'I'm gonna write the Great American Novel about the Vietnam War.' So I sat down and wrote 1,700 pages of sheer psychotherapy drivel. It was first person, and there would be pages about wet socks and cold feet.
book writing trying
Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well, especially once I got serious about writing.
certain dig gotta great starts stuff taken understanding
'The Odyssey' is the great tale, and I was really taken by 'The Iliad,' so I dig into those things, and when I was a kid I didn't. You've gotta have a certain level of understanding yourself before that stuff really starts to resonate.
columbia grew teenager worked
I grew up in Oregon, where as a teenager I worked with my grandfather Axel on his i shing boat at the mouth of the Columbia River.
assaulted built metaphor vietnam war
'Matterhorn' is my metaphor of the Vietnam War - we built it, we abandoned it, we assaulted it, we lost, and then we abandoned it again.
military war race
Vietnam was the first time that Americans of different races had to depend on each other. In the Second World War, they were segregated; it was in Vietnam that American integration happened in the military - and it wasn't easy.
love running heart
He ran as he'd never run before, with neither hope nor despair. He ran because the world was divided into opposites and his side had already been chosen for him, his only choice being whether or not to play his part with heart and courage. He ran because fate had placed him in a position of responsibility and he had accepted the burden. He ran because his self-respect required it. He ran because he loved his friends and this was the only thing he could do to end the madness that was killing and maiming them.
before-and-after missions
The time for debilitating fear is before and after the mission.
war victory vietnam
This nation should be less worried about putting the Vietnam syndrome behind us than restarting the World War II victory syndrome that resulted in the Vietnam syndrome in the first place.
shadow flow steps
Once we recognize our shadow's existence we must resist the enticing step of going with its flow.
pain leaving body
Quitting is unthinkable and pain is just weakness leaving the body
vets mature cynicism
Cynicism is no more mature than naïveté. You're no more mature, just more burned.
heart ego survival
We mistakenly assume that bodily survival has a higher precedence than ego survival. This is simply not generally true. Ego will happily destroy the body for its own sake. Look at overweight executives headed for heart attacks on the way to getting their pictures in Fortune or anorexic models suffering slow starvation on their way to getting their pictures in Vogue. Protecting ego is the general case.