I started reading Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes a few days ago, and I cannot put it down. I only have about 150 pages left.
Before Matterhorn came out on March 23rd I had heard individuals in the book industry saying that it was destined to become a classic. (It is already in its seventh printing.) Of course, we are all excited that Karl is going to be at Lemuria. I have read classic war novels before: The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer, Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It was a long time ago that I read these novels, but I remember being deeply moved by them.
Even with this experience, I still wondered when Matterhorn came out what this novel might be for us, for our society, for humanity. Once I really got into the novel, I felt again why we need war novels. A war novel like Matterhorn reminds civilians what war really means, what it means to send men and women into harm’s way.
We can watch one of the amazing documentaries on television, but I think that a novel is much more of an immersion experience. It usually takes a while to read a novel, a few days, a week, a month even. I am still immersed in the Matterhorn experience; Marlantes has managed to get me–a young woman who knows nothing of war–under the skin of Lieutenant Mellas. At least for as long as I am in the middle of the novel, my mind is still there in the middle. Nothing has been brought to any conclusion. The novel form immerses my psyche more intensely for a longer period of time than anything else could in my immediate environment. As I have referenced Sven Birkerts before, this is the shadow life of reading, the sum of our experience with the book and as it relates to all of our other experiences. The shadow life of Matterhorn will linger a long, long time for me.
Regardless of political viewpoint or even general viewpoint on war, I feel that anyone who has never had first-hand experience of war should read Matterhorn. We need writers, like Marlantes, to take us back, to help us remember and to humbly educate those of us who have no memory of war.
Marlantes writes: “I was given the ability to create stories and characters. That’s my part of the long chain of writers, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, and a host of others who eventually deliver literature to the world. I want to do for others what Eudora Welty did for me.”
You did it, Karl.
If you haven’t already, read Karl’s article in Publisher’s Weekly, “Why I Write”, and all of the reader comments. Also check out the video related to that article.
Comments are closed.