ABSTRACT
The entanglement of the more than decade-long American war in Vietnam culminated in 1975 with total military, political and diplomatic defeat, a futile waste of human and material resources unprecedented in American history. The Vietnam trauma writer’s need to testify to what he or she has experienced or witnessed also takes the form of a story to be shared with others. To view the world through the perspective of post-traumatic stress disorder is to recognize the universality of trauma and the need for diagnosis, therapy and recovery for its subjects but also the need to critically question and intervene against the conditions that lead to the disorder and its effects. Tal’s account of the dynamics of Vietnam trauma writers and their trauma-writing closely resembles psychodynamic trauma therapy as practiced and advocated by Judith Herman and other therapists as well as the particular group dynamics of veterans.
