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
experience radically saw versions
I saw so many radically different versions of Iraq. It would have been difficult for me to come back and think, 'This is the Iraq experience.'
marine time
I never thought anyone would pity me because of my time in the Marine Corps.
love
I love opera. I love jazz, especially Mingus. This makes me sound highbrow. I'm not.
believes signs
I like the ethos of the military and the idea of joining an institution in which, at the very least, everyone who signs up believes in something.
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.
highly
I have friends with post-traumatic stress - friends with post-traumatic stress who are, you know, highly successful, capable people.
grew north school york
I grew up a little north of New York City and went to high school at Regis, an all-boys tuition-free high school in Manhattan.
junior marine officer school
I ended up going to Dartmouth, and I did Marine Officer Candidate School during my junior summer.
mild though
I don't want to act as though my deployment was particularly rough, because it wasn't. I had a very mild deployment; I was a staff officer.
I did try to write in Iraq, and I failed. I think you just don't have the brain space for it.
easy experience gain notions rare reality simple war
Going to war is a rare experience in American culture, so it's easy for simple notions to gain a lot of weight. The reality is always more complex.
corps home marine
For me, leaving the Marine Corps was more disorienting than returning home.
best
Fiction is the best way I know how to think something through.
america ought tactic using violation
Even if torture works, what is the point of 'defending' America using a tactic that is a fundamental violation of what America ought to mean?