Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of HomecomingSimon and Schuster, 2002 - 352 pagina's In this ambitious follow-up to Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay uses the Odyssey, the story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the pitfalls that trap many veterans on the road back to civilian life. Seamlessly combining important psychological work and brilliant literary interpretation with an impassioned plea to renovate American military institutions, Shay deepens our understanding of both the combat veteran's experience and one of the world's greatest classics. In Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay used the story of the Iliad as a prism through which to examine how ancient and modern wars have battered the psychology of the men who fight. Now he turns his attention to the Odyssey, the story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the real problems faced by combat veterans reentering civilian society. The Odyssey, Shay argues, offers explicit portrayals of behavior common among returning soldiers in our own culture: danger-seeking, womanizing, explosive violence, drug abuse, visitation by the dead, obsession, vagrancy and homelessness. Supporting his reading with examples from his fifteen-year practice treating Vietnam veterans, Shay shows how Odysseus's mistrustfulness, his lies, and his constant need to conceal his thoughts and emotions foreshadow the experiences of many of today's veterans. He also explains how veterans recover and advocates changes to American military practice that will protect future servicemen and servicewomen while increasing their fighting power. Throughout, Homer strengthens our understanding of what a combat veteran must overcome to return to and flourish in civilian life, just as the heartbreaking stories of the veterans Shay treats give us a new understanding of one of the world's greatest classics. |
Inhoudsopgave
Odysseus Among the Rich Civilians | 11 |
Staying in Combat Mode | 19 |
The Flight from Pain | 35 |
The Flight from Boredom | 42 |
No Safe Place | 60 |
The Dead Try to Reproach the Living | 76 |
11 | 96 |
Above the Whirlpool | 107 |
6 | 225 |
Odysseus As a Military Leader | 231 |
Conclusion | 242 |
A Pocket Guide to Homers Odyssey | 255 |
Information Resources for Vietnam Veterans | 261 |
Notes | 267 |
303 | |
313 | |
Overige edities - Alles bekijken
Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming Jonathan Shay Gedeeltelijke weergave - 2010 |
Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming Jonathan Shay Geen voorbeeld beschikbaar - 2010 |
Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen
Achilles in Vietnam Agamemnon American armed Athena battle called Calypso Cambridge chapter Circe Circe’s civilian Clinic cohesion COHORT combat veterans commander complex PTSD comrades crew culture Cyclops danger dead death Defense e-mail emotions emphasis added enemy epic erans Eumaeus experience Fagles father fear fight Fitzgerald fucking goddess Greek hero Homer honor human Iliad Ismarus Ithaca Kerrey killed King Laestrygonian leaders leadership Lewis Puller lives Marine Corps military service moral never Odysseus officers pain Penelope person Phaeacian political psychological injury PTSD Puller rage scholar Scylla service members Shay ship Sirens skills social trust soldiers story suitors Sun God’s Telemachus tells therapy There’s thumos trauma Trojan Trojan War troops Troy U.S. Army unit associations University Press Viet Vietnam veterans Vietnam Veterans Memorial Vietnam War VWAR Wall what’s right wife words World World War II Zeus