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- catalog abstract "In 1982 William T. Vollmann, one of our most versatile talents, traveled to see the war in Afghanistan. In An Afghanistan Picture Show, his first book-length work of non-fiction, Vollmann paints a brutally honest and dryly comic portrait of a young American coming to terms with his political naivete. It is the story of a would-be giver who finds himself a perpetual Stranger, unable to comprehend the simplest things he hears and sees, and continually compelled to rely on others for help. In two narrative perspectives, Vollmann wryly confronts his own inadequacy in the face of limitless suffering and comes to the realization that one who went to aid and to understand could only hope, trust, and receive. In An Afghanistan Picture Show Vollmann describes a Cold War world of spies and lurking strangeness, a world in which his younger self asks unanswerable questions of orphans, refugees, guerrilla leaders, bureaucrats, corrupt officials, and prescient has-been politicians. He tells of Pakistan, a country as gracious in spirit as she is materially poor. And in his unnerving innocence Vollmann explores a land in which others continually invest him with almost supernatural powers simply because he is American. An ingenious narrative which inverts the very concept of the "white man's burden" and questions the idea of "truth" in non-fiction, An Afghanistan Picture Show stands as William T. Vollmann most entertaining--and autobiographical--work to date.".
- catalog alternative "How I saved the world".
- catalog contributor b3793600.
- catalog coverage "Afghanistan Description and travel.".
- catalog coverage "Afghanistan History Soviet occupation, 1979-1989 Personal narratives, American.".
- catalog created "1992.".
- catalog date "1992".
- catalog date "1992.".
- catalog dateCopyrighted "1992.".
- catalog description "In 1982 William T. Vollmann, one of our most versatile talents, traveled to see the war in Afghanistan. In An Afghanistan Picture Show, his first book-length work of non-fiction, Vollmann paints a brutally honest and dryly comic portrait of a young American coming to terms with his political naivete. It is the story of a would-be giver who finds himself a perpetual Stranger, unable to comprehend the simplest things he hears and sees, and continually compelled to rely on others for help. In two narrative perspectives, Vollmann wryly confronts his own inadequacy in the face of limitless suffering and comes to the realization that one who went to aid and to understand could only hope, trust, and receive.".
- catalog description "In An Afghanistan Picture Show Vollmann describes a Cold War world of spies and lurking strangeness, a world in which his younger self asks unanswerable questions of orphans, refugees, guerrilla leaders, bureaucrats, corrupt officials, and prescient has-been politicians. He tells of Pakistan, a country as gracious in spirit as she is materially poor. And in his unnerving innocence Vollmann explores a land in which others continually invest him with almost supernatural powers simply because he is American. An ingenious narrative which inverts the very concept of the "white man's burden" and questions the idea of "truth" in non-fiction, An Afghanistan Picture Show stands as William T. Vollmann most entertaining--and autobiographical--work to date.".
- catalog description "Includes bibliographical references (p. [265]).".
- catalog extent "xi, 268 p. :".
- catalog identifier "0374101051".
- catalog issued "1992".
- catalog issued "1992.".
- catalog language "eng".
- catalog publisher "New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,".
- catalog spatial "Afghanistan Description and travel.".
- catalog spatial "Afghanistan History Soviet occupation, 1979-1989 Personal narratives, American.".
- catalog subject "958.104/5 20".
- catalog subject "DS371.2 .V65 1992".
- catalog subject "Vollmann, William T. Travel Afghanistan.".
- catalog title "An Afghanistan picture show, or, How I saved the world / William T. Vollmann.".
- catalog title "How I saved the world".
- catalog type "text".