Prikaz traume i oporavka u romanima Tima O'Breina

This Master’s thesis analyses three literary works written by the American novelist and Vietnam War veteran William Timothy O’Brien who specializes in depiction of a specific literary genre known as Vietnam Trauma literature. Instead of solely providing the American readership with a straightforward depiction of Vietnam combat zone itself, O’Brien’s main goal as an author is driven from his aspiration to illustrate the reality of dealing with Posttraumatic stress disorder and the possibility of recovery. If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, O’Brien’s first literary endeavour, is an autobiographical account which serves as a representation of the so-called authenticity of experience as the standard requirement for Vietnam War literature. Going After Cacciato, on the other hand, is a completely fictional trauma narrative which explores the protagonist’s psychological battle between reality and identity conveyed through the literary genre called magical realism. The novel can also be described as an allegory of American imperialism. Tim O’Brien is mostly renowned for his collection of short stories titled The Things They Carried. The short stories are semi-autobiographical and are considered to be representative examples of the literary device called verisimilitude. They address various themes such as O’Brien’s inability to offer redemption, the idea of stories as curative force, O’Brien’s literary alter egos, his disobedience towards the postmodern notion of innocence and literary depictions of women as “unstable allies”.Diplomski rad analizira tri literarna djela američkog romanopisca i veterana Vijetnamskog rata, Williama Timothyja O’Briena, koji se u autorskom smislu ostvario u književnom žanru koji opisuje traumu koju su veterani Vijetnamskog rata proživjeli. Tim O’Brien američkom čitateljstvu ne pruža isključivo uobičajeni prikaz Vijetnama kao ratne zone, već je njegov glavni autorski cilj ilustrirati što to znači nositi se s posttraumatskim stresnim poremećajem, odnosno je li se od navedenog uopće moguće oporaviti. If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, O’Brienov prvi literarni pokušaj, autobiografska je kronika koja prikazuje tzv. autentičnost iskustva koju ratna književnost zahtijeva. Going After Cacciato, s druge strane, u potpunosti je fikcionalan roman koji istražuje psihološku borbu između stvarnosti i imaginacije. Roman se također može okarakterizirati i kao alegorija Američkog imperijalizma. Tim O’Brien je najpoznatiji po svojoj zbirci kratkih priča naslovljenoj The Things They Carried. Spomenute kratke priče dijelom su autobiografske i smatraju se reprezentativnim primjerom literarnog sredstva poznatijeg pod nazivom selektivni realizam, a kojega karakterizira nejasno postavljena granica između stvarnosti i fikcije. Ova zbirka kratkih priča dotiče se raznovrsnih tema. Neke od njih su, primjerice, O’Brienova neuspješna potraga za iskupljenjem, terapeutski potencijal pričanja ratnih priča, brojne literarne osobnosti Tima O’ Briena, neudovoljavanje postmodernističkoj literarnoj dogmi nevinosti i literarni prikaz žena kao “nepouzdanih saveznika”