What do you think when you book is still talked about and is taught in creative writing classes in the US after 21 years since it was first published, and last year Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing House printed 2 million copies as the book had its 20th anniversary?

– I’m very gratified, of course, that The Things They Carried still sells many copies and is so widely studied in U.S. literature and history classes, both at the college and high school level. Students seem to have a keen interest in the American war in Vietnam. Partly, this interest is due to the fact that their fathers and grandfathers served in the military during that period of history. Also, many American veterans of the war in Vietnam have fallen silent, unable to speak about their experiences, and I hope my book gives a voice to those silent veterans.

2/ Coming back to 1990 when the book was one of the finalists for the1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was the prestige something you expected when you started writing? What did you think at that time?

Every writer hopes that his book will receive praise. And of course I am delighted that The Things They Carried remains successful with American book critics and with American readers. I would be even happier, however, if the book is received well in Vietnam!

3/ 36 years after the war ended, what are the reasons that you think the present Americans still love the book, even with young readers who have no direct connection with the Vietnam war?

I think that The Things They Carried remains popular for a number of reasons. First, the book’s structure is a mix of fact and fiction, each blurring into the other, and many readers seem to be intrigued by this. Which events “actually” occurred? Which events are a product of the imagination? Second, the stories within the book are not conventional “war stories,” which far too often glorify combat. Rather, The Things They Carried is very, very skeptical of war in general and the American war in Vietnam in particular. Third, the book is narrated from the perspective of a soldier who did not believe in the rectitude of the war, but who still participated in the war. This perspective is not typical of most American fiction about the war in Vietnam, and I think it intrigues many readers who also questioned the rectitude of the war.

4/ You became a writer at the age of 43. What was the reasons for this time line, which is quite late?

Actually, The Things They Carried was my third book based on my war experiences. My first book, If I Die in a Combat Zone, was written when I was fairly young — 25 or 26 years old. A second novel, called Going After Cacciato, was published when I was about 33 years old and received the American National Book Award.

5/ Since Vietnam war, the world has experienced so many wars and conflicts. Is your viewpoint of war has changed? What is it like now?

Even after the passage of 40 years since my time in Vietnam, I remain highly critical of America’s decision to make war in Vietnam. We are not the world’s police force. People in other countries have the right to choose their own form of government, even if the U.S. disagrees with that choice. I worry that we now are repeating our earlier mistakes.

6/ The things you and your fellows carried in Vietnam War, are they different from what the American soldiers are carrying now in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Libya?

Of course the weaponry of today is sometimes different from the weaponry American soldiers carried in Vietnam. But American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to carry the emotional and spiritual burdens that we carried in Vietnam all those years ago — terror, grief, longing for home, anger, loneliness, guilt, and a sense of one’s own mortality. The most important burdens of the common foot soldier really do not change much over time.

7/ Survived Vietnam War, studied government at Harvard University, having worked as a national affairs correspondent for the Washington Post, and now you are teaching creative writing. What do you think about the saying that Vietnam War has shaped your life in some ways?

In many important ways, my experience in Vietnam determined the remainder of my life. Certainly my career as a writer was born in Vietnam. It is a strange irony that something I hated so much — my year in combat — became the dominant force in defining the rest of my life.

8/ Your daughter has been to Vietnam, what did she tell you about Vietnam war after the trip?

Actually, I have no daughter! (Remember, the book is a work of fiction.) When The Things They Carried was written, I had no children at all. But for the purposes of the book I needed a child to ask those blunt, impolite questions that adults do not ask: Did you ever kill anyone? Why can’t you put the war behind you?

9/ Could you share with me what is your life these days? A normal day with you would be like what and how much time you spend on writing and whether it still relates to what fixed your image as a prominent Vietnam war writer?

My life is the life of a writer. I live inside my stories. On the surface, my life would appear to be quite boring and monotonous — just sitting in front of a computer all day, barely moving — but in my head I am embarking on adventures of all sorts, experiencing the joys and struggles of my characters.

Source: Tuoi Tre