Phil Klay Knihy

Válka. Jak vyjádřit hrůzu, kterou v sobě ukrývá, jak přetlumočit osudy, do nichž zasáhla? Povídkový soubor Zpátky do boje od Phila Klaye můžeme směle zařadit ke klasickým dílům literatury s válečnou tematikou, k jakým patří slavné romány Hlava XXII, Komu zvoní hrana či Na západní frontě klid aj. Stěžejním motivem všech dvanácti různě rozsáhlých povídek je bojové nasazení a válečný konflikt v Iráku. Klay dokáže i na malé ploše bravurně, bez okázalých prostředků a otřepaných frází čtenáři obnažit pocity člověka vystaveného dennodennímu tlaku válečné mašinerie. Zabij, nebo zemři, to je příkaz, který hrdinové Klayových povídek bez výjimky plní, protože jiná možnost není. Nebo ano? Prožité hrůzy se nedají ani sdělit, ani zamlčet, a tak protagonisté tápou i po návratu ze služby, kdy by mělo být vše zlé definitivně pryč. Ovšem to je jen zdání a bývalým vojákům nastává nový boj.

"When Phil Klay left the Marines a decade ago, after serving as an officer in Iraq, he found himself part of the community of veterans who have no choice but to grapple with the meaning of their wartime experiences-for themselves and for the country. American identity has always been bound up in war-from the revolutionary war of our founding, to the civil war that ended slavery, to the two world wars that launched America as a superpower. What did the current wars say about who we are as a country, and how should we respond as citizens? Unlike previous eras of war, few other Americans have had to do any real grappling with the endless, invisible wars of the post-9/11 world at all; in fact, increasingly, few people are even aware they are still going on. It's as if there's a dark star with a strong gravitational force that draws a relatively small number of soldiers and their families into its orbit, while remaining inconspicuous to most other Americans. In the meantime, the consequences of American military action abroad may be out of sight and out of mind, but they are very real indeed. This chasm between military and civilian in American life, and the moral blind spot it has created, is one of the great themes of Uncertain Ground, Phil Klay's powerful series of reckonings in essay form over the past ten years with some of our country's thorniest concerns. In the name of what do we ask young Americans to kill, and to die? In the name of what does this country hang together? As we see at every turn in these pages, those two questions have a great deal to do with one another, and how we answer them will go a long way toward deciding where our troubled country goes from here"-- Provided by publisher

"When Phil Klay left the Marines a decade ago, after serving as an officer in Iraq, he found himself part of the community of veterans who have no choice but to grapple with the meaning of their wartime experiences--for themselves and for the country. American identity has always been bound up in war--from the revolutionary war of our founding, to the civil war that ended slavery, to the two world wars that launched America as a superpower. What did the current wars say about who we are as a country, and how should we respond as citizens? Unlike previous eras of war, few other Americans have had to do any real grappling with the endless, invisible wars of the post-9/11 world at all; in fact, increasingly, few people are even aware they are still going on. It's as if there's a dark star with a strong gravitational force that draws a relatively small number of soldiers and their families into its orbit, while remaining inconspicuous to most other Americans. In the meantime, the consequences of American military action abroad may be out of sight and out of mind, but they are very real indeed. This chasm between military and civilian in American life, and the moral blind spot it has created, is one of the great themes of Uncertain Ground, Phil Klay's powerful series of reckonings in essay form over the past ten years with some of our country's thorniest concerns. In the name of what do we ask young Americans to kill, and to die? In the name of what does this country hang together? As we see at every turn in these pages, those two questions have a great deal to do with one another, and how we answer them will go a long way toward deciding where our troubled country goes from here"-- Provided by publisher

An astonishing novel about the moral cost of war, from the author of the National Book Award-winning Redeployment.

2001 ziehen die USA in den Krieg. Gegen Bin Laden, gegen Hussein, und vor allem gegen den eigenen Bedeutungsverlust. Heute ist Saddam tot, Osama auch, doch die einzige Supermacht ist schwächer als je zuvor. In Wir erschossen auch Hunde erzählt Phil Klay von den jungen Männern, die in diesem Krieg den höchsten Preis zahlen mussten. Es sind knallharte Erzählungen von Häuserkämpfen in Falludscha, aussichtslosen Hilfsmissionen im Irak und dem Heimkehren in ein fremdgewordenes Land. Ein Land, das bei all dem Hintergrundrauschen aus Konsum und Entertainment kein Interesse am Leiden seiner Soldaten hat. Denn ihre traumatischen Erfahrungen beweisen nur die grenzenlose Ohnmacht und lassen etwas erahnen, was noch vor wenigen Jahren unvorstellbar schien: »America is broken, man.« Phil Klay kämpfte als US-Marine im Irak, davon handelt dieses Buch. In Wir erschossen auch Hunde gibt er eine authentische Vorstellung vom Krieg und dem, was er an Angst, Sehnsucht und allerletzter Euphorie mit sich bringt. Damit fragt er zur gleichen Zeit kompromisslos und bildgewaltig nach den Überlebenschancen einer dekadenten Supermacht.