With fiction, you can take something that bothers you, or that you don't have in clear focus, and you can put it under as much stress as you want. Really get underneath the skin. With nonfiction, you're restricted to what happened. Phil Klay botherclearfiction share on social
Going to war is a rare experience in American culture, so it's easy for simple notions to gain a lot of weight. The reality is always more complex. Phil Klay americancomplexculture Change image and share on social
Pity sidesteps complexity in favor of narratives that we're comfortable with, reducing the nuances of a person's experience to a sound bite. Phil Klay bitecomfortablecomplexity Change image and share on social
I have, for a very long time, been a huge admirer of Marilynne Robinson, whose work I just love. Phil Klay admirerhugelong Change image and share on social
I don't believe in any Greatest Generation. I believe in great events. They sweep ordinary people up, expose them to extremes of human behavior and unimaginable tests of integrity and courage, and then deposit them back on the home front. Phil Klay backbehaviorcourage share on social
Certainly, my exposure in high school to writers like Flannery O'Connor, Shusaku Endo, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Graham Greene was formative. Phil Klay connordostoevskyendo Change image and share on social
Supposedly, going to war initiates you into this gnostic priesthood of people who've had a liminal experience forever separating them from civilians. Except... you go there, and it is what it is. A form of human activity as varied as any other. Phil Klay activitycivilianexperience share on social
I started with things that I was troubled by or confused by or interested in, and then I wrote stories to try to puzzle my way through it. But the question is not how to represent war, because it's an abstract thing that's felt differently for all the characters. Phil Klay abstractcharacterconfuse share on social
One thing I've always liked about the military is there's a certain amount of pragmatism. Phil Klay amounthavemilitary Change image and share on social
