Author tim o brien biography. Tim O'Brien 2022-10-20

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Tim O'Brien is a Vietnam War veteran and award-winning author best known for his work in the fiction and nonfiction genres. Born in Austin, Minnesota in 1946, O'Brien grew up in a working-class family and spent his childhood and adolescence in the small town of Worthington.

O'Brien attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he received a bachelor's degree in political science. After graduation, he was drafted into the military and served as a foot soldier in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. His experiences in Vietnam would later inspire much of his writing, including his most famous work, "The Things They Carried," a collection of interconnected short stories about soldiers in Vietnam.

After returning from Vietnam, O'Brien attended graduate school at Harvard University, where he received a master's degree in government. He then worked as a writer and editor for various publications, including the Washington Post, before publishing his first book, "If I Die in a Combat Zone," in 1973. The book, which was a semi-autobiographical account of O'Brien's experiences in Vietnam, was a critical and commercial success and established O'Brien as a prominent voice in the Vietnam War literature.

In the decades since, O'Brien has published several more books, including the novels "Going After Cacciato" and "In the Lake of the Woods," both of which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He has also received numerous awards for his writing, including the National Book Award for Fiction for "The Things They Carried."

In addition to his writing career, O'Brien has also worked as a teacher, giving lectures and workshops on creative writing at institutions such as Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts. He currently resides in Massachusetts with his family.

Throughout his career, O'Brien has explored the themes of war, memory, and storytelling in his writing, often blurring the lines between fiction and nonfiction to create a unique and powerful voice. His work has had a lasting impact on the literary world and has cemented his place as one of the most important writers of the Vietnam War era.

The Things They Carried: Tim O'Brien Biography

author tim o brien biography

He worked as a national affairs reporter for The Washington Post from 1973 to 1974. It is neither quite classifiable as fiction nor non-fiction, neither quite a novel nor a collection of short stories. While his novels and memoir mostly concern the war, their thematic scope is timeless. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2017. One attribute of O'Brien's work is the blur between fiction and reality; labeled " The Things They Carried, O'Brien discusses the distinction between "story-truth" the truth of fiction and "happening-truth" the truth of fact or occurrence , writing that "story-truth is sometimes truer than happening-truth.


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Timothy L. O'Brien

author tim o brien biography

The son of an elementary school teacher and an insurance salesman, O'Brien was always a bookworm. The subject matter of this novel is serious: betrayal, the loss of love, revenge, and redemption. About Author Tim O'Brien is an American writer who writes about the US war in Vietnam and its influence on soldiers. When Tim was twelve years old, the family moved to Worthington. Other writers relating to him include Michael Herr and Kurt Vonnegut; his writing is said to have inspired Norman Mailer and Truman Capote's style.


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Author Tim O'Brien Bio and Signed Books

author tim o brien biography

From 1969-70, O'Brien had been an infantryman in the Quang Ngai province, and his platoon had been stationed in My Lai a year after the massacre. O'Brien ultimately rose to the rank of sergeant. Upon graduation, O'Brien attended Harvard University and received an internship in the Washington Post. The short story was also selected for the 1987 Best American Short Stories volume and for inclusion in the Best American Short Stories of the 1980s. Accolades of his work include:. Retrieved 23 November 2012. According to him, sometimes the fictional truth is more realistic than factual one.

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Tim O’Brien Biography, Works, and Quotes

author tim o brien biography

He began and continues to publish regularly in various periodicals, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Esquire, and Playboy, frequently excerpting parts of his novels as autonomous short stories. O'Brien's works are known for their meditations on the human heart with themes of both bravery and guilt, courage and fear, peace, and war. The good news is that Tim O'Brien is writing fiction again. Although this is a common literary technique, his conscious, explicit, and metafictional approach to the distinction between fact and fiction is a unique component of his writing style. None of O'Brien's novels is particularly plot-driven; rather, his work meditates on psychological and emotional experience.

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Tim O'Brien (Novelist)

author tim o brien biography

Nearly all of Tim O'Brien's writing can be described as semi-autobiographical as they chronicle experiences of a "grunt" or army-man without rank. O'Brien has said that when his unit got to the area around My Lai referred to as "Pinkville" by the U. I don't mean catharsis. So, he went to war. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. Family Life Born and raised in Minnesota, he later settled in Texas with his wife Meredith and his sons Timmy and Tad. After high school, he attended Macalester College to study political science and was subsequently drafted to fight in the Vietnam War.

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Tim O'Brien

author tim o brien biography

Anecdotal and sometimes jarring in its juxtaposition of Socratic dialogue and personal meditation, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a clear-sighted and unsensationalist account of one young enlistee's fears and aspirations. I think this is my best book. Chillingly, he admitted, "Last night suicide was on my mind. New York, Doubleday, 1982. From February 1969 to March 1970 he served as infantryman with the U.

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Tim O'Brien Biography, Books & Quotes

author tim o brien biography

When he was seven, his family, including a younger sister and brother, moved to Worthington, Minnesota. As the anonymous narrator, who has conducted a four-year investigation into the case, comments in a footnote: "It's human nature. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil. This quotation also emphasizes the unique power of fiction. Both fought in Vietnam; both are enraged by the ignorance of their native cities.

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About Tim O'Brien: A Profile

author tim o brien biography

He has lived and worked in Europe, South America and Asia. Unlike his character, however, O'Brien passed his nights pouring out his anxiety and grief onto the typewritten page. He remains the most compelling voice to emerge from the Vietnam war, but he is also developing into a master of storytelling who is aware of his craft and of the necessity for its continuation. Although he was against war, he was conscripted into United States Army and sent to Vietnam where he served for two years. Date Drafted: August 14, 1968 Age Drafted 22 Unit: 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade Tim O'Brien, the Author Tim O'Brien began writing at night after his graduation from Macalester College while working days in a meatpacking plant.

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Tim O'Brien Biography

author tim o brien biography

That is why his readers are as apt to be female as male. Bates, in Critique Washington, D. Why don't you come over, I'll take you to lunch. Sam didn't give a shit if you missed a deadline. He employed the philosophical concept of Verisimilitude in his works, which blurs between two realms; fact and fiction. O'Brien served a 13-month tour in-country from 1969 to 1970 with Alpha Company, the Fifth Battalion of the 46th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. O'Brien has published shorter stories in literary magazines like The Atlantic and The Best American Short Stories and magazines such as The New Yorker and Esquire.

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