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
boys family joined peace public service three tradition
There's a tradition of public service in my family. I'm one of three boys that joined the military. My father was in the Peace Corps.
creative decision english history iraq join marines studying war
I'd been in college studying English creative writing and history when I made the decision to join the Marines in the runup to the Iraq war.
difficult join particular people policy sign understand
One of the things that's difficult for people to understand is when you join the military, you don't sign up as an endorsement of any particular policy of the moment.
anybody both ended happened iraq joined serving tendency war
There's a tendency to look at anybody who joined the military as if they underwrote everything that happened policy-wise. That's not really the case. I have a friend who both protested the Iraq War and joined the military, and ended up serving two deployments in Afghanistan.
people stories
When I tell stories about Iraq, the ones people react to are always the stories of violence. This is strange for me.
bothers clear restricted underneath
With fiction, you can take something that bothers you, or that you don't have in clear focus, and you can put it under as much stress as you want. Really get underneath the skin. With nonfiction, you're restricted to what happened.
abstract confused felt interested puzzle question represent stories troubled war wrote
I started with things that I was troubled by or confused by or interested in, and then I wrote stories to try to puzzle my way through it. But the question is not how to represent war, because it's an abstract thing that's felt differently for all the characters.
certainly clarity definitely found patriotism tyranny
I've certainly thought a lot more about things like tyranny and patriotism and violence. I think I found some kind of clarity - definitely a thicker understanding.
coming consumed country happening ordered paying
There's something odd about working 24/7, being consumed with everything that's happening in Iraq, and then coming back to the country that ordered you over there only to realize that a lot of Americans are not really paying attention.
believe combat death decisions exactly god human life notion prayer purpose serves stakes tremendous war zone
Prayer in a combat zone serves exactly the same purpose as it does in peacetime. In war, the stakes are life and death, true; but if you believe in God and in the notion of a human soul, then we are always making decisions of tremendous significance.
certainly figure people stories war
People should be able to tell stories that are important to them to try and understand what they mean. I don't think you figure anything out on your own. Certainly not war stories.
war
I've been asked what differentiates war literature as a category, and I don't think there is anything.
deal macho people
Sometimes macho language is to mask things people are not ready to deal with.
takes time understand war
War is complicated and intense, and it takes time and thoughts to understand what it was.