War and Literature at West Point
Soldier's Heart - A Review of Literature by a USMA English Professor
Professor Elizabeth Samet's book Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature through Peace and War at West Point.
One of the most surreal moments of Terrance Mallack’s 1998 classic war film The Thin Red Line was in the exchange between Lt Col Trall, played by Nick Nolte, to one of his subordinates, Captain Staros:
Trall - "You're Greek, aren't you, Captain? Did you ever read Homer? We read Homer at the Point……In Greek “
Staros- What kind of artillery support do we have, sir? Over
Trall- Two batteries
The mindset and better yet the real reason behind this was brought home to me in reading Elizabeth D. Samet's memoir of her experiences as an English Professor at West Point for ten years. Her book, Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature through Peace and War at West Point is unique in this point of view. Samet came to West Point from Yale in 1996 to serve as one of the number of civilian staff professors that round out the service academies curriculum. She details her experiences from her first tour of the campus during the regular Army-Navy game week through her shock and immersion feet first into the world of the United States Military Academy. Such details of West Point from the building's historical architecture to class structure, uniforms and ceremony are covered. Professor Samet gives one a primer in military anecdotes including analysis of the term hooah, the US military salute, and others sprinkled through her experiences.
Samet's book, as the title suggests, follows the path from when she first came to essentially a peacetime college with some old traditions, through the September 11th attacks, and onto the reality that her school was a martial proving ground for military leaders. Samet mentions her thoughts and experiences teaching young cadets the subtle nuances of such martial tales as the Iliad, Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen and others. She comes time and time again to The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell :
"From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, and I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from the dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.”
The poem and the effect that it had on her and her students were profound and many times deeper than its fifty words would imply. The short war poem and its interpretation brought new meaning to young cadets who would be facing IEDs in Iraq upon graduation.
In this telling you realize why Lt Col Trall read Homer.....in the original Greek.
