War Porn is an anti-war novel by Roy Scranton completed in 2011 and published in 2016 by Soho Press.London, 2016 (1): "...it is no surprise that the "war novel" has emerged as a predominant form of contemporary American literature."Molin, 2016: "Roy Scranton's Iraq war novel War Porn, out this week , by all accounts was substantially complete by 2011."
The novel presents structurally integrated stories told through the third- and first-person perspectives, which present contrasting and complex perspectives on the Iraq war.Molin, 2016: "War Porn consists of three interrelated storylines... the storylines, scenes, and episodes are carefully integrated,"Hoenicke,2016: "War Porn is a complex novel about complex systems."
Scranton served with the US Army from 2002 to 2006, and was deployed as a specialist with the 1st Armored Division to Baghdad in 2003 and 2004.Colla, 2016: "Scranton served in the U.S. Army from 2002-2006, and was deployed to Baghdad with the famous First Division in 2003-4."London, 2016, WSWS: "Scranton enlisted in the US Army in 2002 and served with the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad, first as a Private Second Class before ultimately being promoted to Sergeant." The term "war porn" refers to graphic images of violence collected in war zones, often "viewed voyeuristically for emotional gratification".Hefti, 2016: "War porn... a phrase well-known in military circles that encompasses forms of media depicting the most provocative and extreme depictions of violence, gore, and brutality wrought by combat 'viewed voyeuristically or for emotional gratification.'"London, 2016 (1) WSWS: "Though the title strikes the reader as an attempt at shock value, the inside jacket explains that 'war porn' means 'videos, images, and narratives featuring graphic violence, often brought back from combat zones, viewed voyeuristically or for emotional gratification.'"
Structure
War Porn is set prior to and during the Iraq War. The novel presents three main storylines that are divided into five sections, resembling the configuration of "Russian nesting dolls." (A-B-C-B-A.)Plum, 2016. Scranton: "The book's three main sections are built like Russian nesting dolls, so the first and last sections are [in] Utah, the second and fourth are Iraq during the war, and the third section, the middle section, is Qasim, the Iraqi mathematician... One could describe the novel as three novellas that brush up against then seize one another."Molin, 2016: "War Porn consists of three interrelated storylines." The intertwining narratives revolve around the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in the early years of the war and its impact on American and Iraqi soldiers and civilians.London, 2016: "...intertwining..."
"Strange Hells" comprises the "A" narrative, sections 1 and 5. The author employs a limited omniscient third-person point-of-view, and is set in a Utah suburb. Focal characters include Aaron "Sto" Stojanoski, a recently discharged corporal in the National Guard whose Military Police unit was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and stationed at Camp Crawford and the Abu Ghraib detention center.Scranton, 2016. "Strange Hells", Section 1, p. 7 and "Strange Hells", Section 5: p. 291 Dahlia, identified only by her first name, is a disaffected suburban housemate and a key protagonist in this homefront narrative.
"Your Leader Will Control Your Fire" comprises the "B" narrative (sections 2 and 4, set in Baghdad in 2003 and 2004). The story is presented from a first-person confessional point-of-view.Kakutani, 2016 NYT: "The central and most compelling tale is told in the first person and often reads like a journal, recounting the experiences of a poet turned soldier..." The protagonist is Army Specialist Wilson. Identified only by his rank and last name, he serves as a Humvee driver in combat zones in Baghdad.Scranton, 2016. "Your Leader Will Control Your Fire", Section 2, p. 43 and Section 4, p. 233 The "B" narrative dealing with Wilson is fragmented into vignette-like chapters, each two or three pages in length. The chapters are introduced with an epigraph which quotes from the U.S. Army Ethics and Combat Skills Handbook and the M16 Weapon Manual.Colla, 2016
The "B" narrative is the only story that incorporates flashbacks: these are signaled by their presentation in italics. All the events described in Wilson's flashbacks are set in the United States.
"The Fall" is the single "C" section occurring sequentially at the mid-point of the other narratives. The author employs an omniscient third-person point-of-view. The central character is Qasim al-Zabadi, an Iraqi university mathematics professor living with his extended family in Baghdad and Baquba during the war; he later serves as an interpreter for US occupation forces.Scranton, 2016 "The Fall" p. 133
The Babylon "prose-poems" Each of the five sections in the novel are preceded by a unique "prose-poem", all uniformly entitled "Babylon". These stream of consciousness-like passages are amalgamations of the "fables, lies, half-truths, myths, delusions, and anxieties that underwrote the Iraq War" and include references to operations conducted by US military intelligence during the war.Plum, 2016: "Threaded throughout, brief gorgeous passages titled "Babylon" blend the discourses of this war vertiginously, moving us with a violent grace between these settings."Molin, 2016: "Linking the three storylines are prose-poem interludes in which Scranton channels a collective unconscious voice declaiming the amalgamated collection of fables, lies, half-truths, myths, delusions, and anxieties that underwrote the Iraq War in the American and Iraqi cultural climate."Colla, 2016: "The experimentation with language is even more radical in the mini-chapters titled "Babylon" composed of military acronyms and operation nicknames, tiny collages featuring images from Rambo and the Big Red One, shards from the Iliad and T. E. Lawrence, as well as fragments from the U.S. Army "Ethics and Combat Skills Handbook" and the "M16 Weapon Manual...""
Plot Summaries
Strange Hells (Columbus Day, 2004): "A" narrative (Section 1)
The novel opens at the suburban home of Dahlia and Matt, both Gen-Xers.Scranton, 2016, p. 13: Matt is "27" years old A monogamous heterosexual couple, they have been co-habitating in the US state of Utah since 2002. Their relationship is quietly deteriorating. Dahlia is discontented with the domestic role she has drifted into with Matt, but seems resigned to it. A former all-state soccer champion in college with a Master's degree in Anthropology, she works part-time in a bagel shop.Plum, 2016: Scranton: "Dahlia is basically a decent young woman who's trying to figure her shit out, and whose relationship is quietly unraveling. She longs for something more than the tedium she's found herself stuck in…I wanted to bring readers in through Dahlia's perspective."Scranton, 2016 p. 15
Matt is employed part-time as a freelance computer programmer. An introvert, he suffers from low self-esteem, and unlike Dahlia, he is no longer physically fit. He attempts to conceal his mild yet chronic dependence on marijuana and alcohol.Scranton, 2016 p. 9-10: Dahlia describes Matt's "wounded eyes, his [beer] belly…" And p. 10: Matt describes Dahlia's "...tense muscles…firm curve of her breasts…a form compact and efficient…" p. 10: See Dahlia's exchange with Matt re: Chopin for introvert. And p. 17: See here for Matt's social ineptitude. See p. 16 for Matt's internal denials that he is a "recluse."
The couple has invited a few local friends to their holiday barbecue. Like themselves, they are self-absorbed, politically liberal twenty-somethings, with New Age affinities.Plum, 2016: "...twentysomething leftists…" Preoccupied with their own personal and professional uncertainties, they are ignorant of the realities related to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the experiences of US and allied troops. Dahlia laments to herself that "wars drag on."Plum, 2016: Scranton: "...the war doesn't really seem to have anything to do with their lives...So what happens when the war comes home?"Molin, 2016: "a group of liberal, late-20-something residents of Utah, whose comfy life and beliefs are upset by the arrival to their Columbus Day barbecue of an Iraq War vet named Aaron."
Rachel and Mel (Melanie), a lesbian couple, arrive with their Labrador retriever, Zena. Mel, a recreational boat guide, immediately harangues her hosts with an outraged Leftist critique against mainstream America.Scranton, 2016: p. 12-14 Rachel, a public school teacher and avid attendee at Rainbow Gathering-like vegan events, complains that the school board is persecuting her for her lesbian "lifestyle." Mel, in her defense, launches into a tirade against the "Fucking homophobic, misogynistic bigots" and proposes they seek sanctuary in Canada if President George W. Bush is reelected in the 2004 elections. Dahlia and Matt also consider absconding to Canada.Scranton, 2016 See p. 12-14 for character profiles introducing Rechel and Mel. p. 13: "I don't want to be around when they start lining people up for the camps." And p. 12: On "pagan-hippie" gathering Rachel "loves that shit" according to Mel.Scranton, 2016 p. 11: Mel dressed "in her leather jacket…and [a bottle of ] Johnnie Walker dangling from her fingers." and p. 21: "...Rechael got cold, and Mel wrapped her in her leather jacket." And p. 13-15 on Mel's outburst, also on Canada, Bush.
Wendy, a friend of Dahlia, calls to say she is bringing a new boyfriend, Aaron. Matt, who has a secret crush on Wendy, remarks disparagingly on her penchant for "lost boys."Scranton, 2016 For this remark, and Dahlia's insights p. 14: "He could [make a conquest of Wendy] but he won't…but he's too [sexually unassertive]..." And Wendy's appearance p. 17: "a dirty blonde [with] high tanned cheeks and fine-boned wrists and shoulders…" As a liberal critic of the US invasion of Iraq, Matt becomes anxious when informed that Aaron is a soldier returning from combat duty in Baghdad. Dahlia warns Matt that the war veteran may be "a little sensitive." Matt expresses a lurid interest in viewing genuine combat photos he hopes Aaron may possess. (Such images are the "war porn" of the novel's title.)Scranton, 2016 p. 11: Matt: "was he in the shit [combat]?...Maybe he's got pictures…"And see here for "lost boys". And p. 26-28: See here for Matt's sarcastic interrogation of Aaron's service in Iraq." And p. 26: Matt's jealous hostility towards Wendy, Matt looks at Wendy ``like he was going to throw up on her shoes" [i.e. moonstruck with her].
Matt is instantly intimidated by Aaron's steely self-possession, and drinks a beer to steady his nerves. Delia is attracted to the danger Aaron evinces.Scranton, 2016: See p. 16 and 17 for Aaron's appearance, Matt's response.Plum, 2016: Scranton: "For [Dahlia], there's an unarticulated appeal in something dangerous, because it offers the possibility of breakage: breaking out, breaking open. But she doesn't understand how dangerous Aaron really is." Matt pontificates on the topic of computer coding to Aaron, who responds with mock interest. Aaron doesn't bother to conceal his instant attraction to Dahlia.