1. Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried
AP English Language and Composition

2. “About Tim O’Brien: A Profile”
O’Brien primarily a writer of fiction
Vowed to stop writing fiction in 1994; a few months later, published a famous essay in the NYT describing his return to My Lai, site of a four hour massacre
From , O’Brien was an infantryman in the Quang Ngai province; his platoon was stationed in My Lai a year after the massacre

3. Background on Tim O’Brien
Then and now, he could feel evil in My Lai
In the NYT cover story, O’Brien draws parralels between the “guilt, depression, terror, shame” that infects his Vietnam experience and present life
Contemplates suicide
O’Brien writes in the article, “Last night suicide was on my mind. Not whether, but how.”

4. Background on Tim O’Brien
Born in 1946
Raised in small-town Minnesota
Father was an insurance salesman
Mother an elementary school teacher
As a child, O’Brien was lonely, overweight, and a “dreamer”
Practiced magic tricks

5. Background on Tim O’Brien
Had political aspirations going into college
Became a political science major at Macalester
Attended peace vigils and war protests
Planned to join the State Department to reform its policies

6. Background on Tim O’Brien
Drafted as an infantryman upon graduation
Seriously considered deserting to Canada
Now thinks it was cowardly not to desert to Canada, but in 1968, he feared the disapproval of family and friends

7. Tim O’Brien, after the war…
Received a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel from a hand grenade
Pursued a doctorate at the Harvard School of Government
Began writing his first book, If I Die in Combat, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, while at Harvard

8. Tim O’Brien, after the war…
If I Die in Combat published in 1973
Became national affairs reporter for The Washington Post
Writes several more books including The Nuclear Age in 1985 and TTTC in 1990.
TTTC finalist for Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award

9. Tim O’Brien, after the war…
Latest novel, In the Lake of the Woods
Considers this his best work yet
Writes every day, all day; known for being meticulous, fanatical
Some editors and critics suggest he should move on from Vietnam
Will most likely continue to write about the war

10. Love and War His books are universal
War stories as much as love stories
O’Brien says, “I’ve had the twins of love and evil. They intertwine and intermix. They’ll separate, sometimes, yet they’re hooked the way valances are hooked together. The emotions in war and in our ordinary lives are, if not identical, damn similar.”

11. Tim O’Brien Then and Now

12. Note:
Information taken from Ploughshares, the Literary Journal at Emerson College
Written by Don Lee (