Award-winning author Tim O'Brien urged students yesterday to remember that even "truth" can be relative.
His 1990 Pulitzer Prize-finalist novel The Things They Carried was chosen for this year's "One Book, One Philadelphia" program, a citywide literacy campaign. The novel is a novel composed of a series of interrelated short stories about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War.
The stories are based O'Brien's own experiences in the Vietnam conflict. The book is even included on many syllabi on Penn's campus. Although the turnout was relatively small at approximately 30 people, O'Brien nevertheless expressed his gratitude that there were more than two attendees, especially given the harsh weather conditions outside.
Admitting that he is not much of a speaker or lecturer, O'Brien said he tried his best to give a sincere account of how he crafts a good story.
"I work almost entirely by trial and error," he said.
On the relevance of stories, he affirmed, "A good story doesn't offer advice or morals. ... [It] relies entirely on the details of human experience."
"Stories are among the things all of us carry," he continued.
O'Brien read excerpts from The Things They Carried and made an effort to delineate "literal truth" from "emotional truth" in his stories.
"At times, the literal truth is insufficient," he attested, adding that his novel "gives you access to what was 'truly' -- whatever that means -- happening inside me."
O'Brien made clear that, as a writer, he sees truth differently from how a scientist or mathematician would.
When O'Brien went on to take questions, he stressed that he was a writer and did not want to get too political. From the outset, he stated that his novel was "not an essay or a political tract."
He did, however, make the occasional reference to Iraq, especially as he discussed the costs of war.
"If you happen to be wrong, you can't wake up the dead people and say, 'I'm sorry,'" he said.
He also mentioned that "we see war on television from a distance -- a sanitized distance," finally explaining that "a war doesn't end with the signing of a peace treaty. ... Everything ripples on."
O'Brien was brought to Houston Hall yesterday by the School of Social Work, which is a participant in the "One Book, One Philadelphia" program along with the Philadelphia Mayor's Office and the Free Library of Philadelphia.
