Complete Schedule
"Tangled Twilight." The Twilight of American Idealism and Progress, and Reflections on the American Soul in Nature During the Vietnam War, 1965-1973
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation (Electronic Copy Not Available)
Keywords
Nature and civilization--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Social aspects;
Abstract
This work is an exploration of a larger discourse on nature within Western and American civilization. Specifically, cultural attitudes and ideals relating to views of wilderness and frontier. Realms hewed from both the intangible rock of myth and emotional stone of lived experience within ecological spaces. Ideas which carried over to the Vietnam War and whose contact with South Indo China’s “nature” helped reshuffle the “Imagined community” of America. Digging hurtful into Americas national image of themselves. Partly, in their warriors defeat against Viet-Cong’s superior “primitivism,” and their failed techno-war against nature itself. Cultural artifacts after the war such as Apocalypse now, Rumor of war, and Inn Country: Film, memoir, and fiction are examples of works, I suggest, that were as much about the chaos of Vietnam as they are a dialogue on nature. With themes of civilization, or national, decline, fear, and coiled insanity brought home. Nature, in this case - as it often has been -serving as metaphorical representation of the human soul be it nihilism, hope, or madness. This presentation is a brief introduction of my research and interpretation of these dialogues as they relate to the Vietnam War and their place within a larger environmental and cultural context.
Start Date
3-4-2018 1:00 PM
End Date
3-4-2018 4:00 PM
Faculty Advisor
Brian Roberts
Department
Department of History
Copyright
©2018 Alexander Newkirk
Embargo Date
3-30-2018
"Tangled Twilight." The Twilight of American Idealism and Progress, and Reflections on the American Soul in Nature During the Vietnam War, 1965-1973
This work is an exploration of a larger discourse on nature within Western and American civilization. Specifically, cultural attitudes and ideals relating to views of wilderness and frontier. Realms hewed from both the intangible rock of myth and emotional stone of lived experience within ecological spaces. Ideas which carried over to the Vietnam War and whose contact with South Indo China’s “nature” helped reshuffle the “Imagined community” of America. Digging hurtful into Americas national image of themselves. Partly, in their warriors defeat against Viet-Cong’s superior “primitivism,” and their failed techno-war against nature itself. Cultural artifacts after the war such as Apocalypse now, Rumor of war, and Inn Country: Film, memoir, and fiction are examples of works, I suggest, that were as much about the chaos of Vietnam as they are a dialogue on nature. With themes of civilization, or national, decline, fear, and coiled insanity brought home. Nature, in this case - as it often has been -serving as metaphorical representation of the human soul be it nihilism, hope, or madness. This presentation is a brief introduction of my research and interpretation of these dialogues as they relate to the Vietnam War and their place within a larger environmental and cultural context.
