Writing Combat

The Literature of War

English 174 //Fall 2025// M, W, F 12 – 1// Physics 1

Mark Danner

War, the most destructive of human activities, long predates writing. Wounds still evident in a mesolithic African cemetery tell us that the organized practice of humans killing humans predates the institution of the state itself. Taking part in mass murder appears to be an intractable part of being human. As I write, more than sixty thousand people have died in Gaza. My father, when he was a young man, fought in a conflict that killed 85 million. Nothing so gives the lie to the notion of human progress than the inexorable fact of war — and the frank willingness of humans, embodied today in vast nuclear arsenals, to destroy the world itself rather than suffer defeat. As a reporter, I have covered war and political violence in Central America, Haiti, the Balkans, and Iraq. I have seen much death and written about it. But I have not come to understand it. In this course, we will read and discuss some of the most powerful words that have been written about war. Our inquiry will encompass epics, novels, memoirs and reportage and will stretch from the siege of Troy to the invasion of Gaza. Throughout we will focus on great writers’ attempt to understand the incomprehensible: our irresistible attraction to mass murder and destruction.

Class Requirements This class will be taught largely in lecture format, backed up by a solid amount of reading and viewing, and some writing. There will be time for questions in class and, we hope, for some discussion. The most important requirements are that students

*Attend all lectures

*Keep up with assigned reading and viewing 

*Take part in discussions

*Complete one four-page midterm paper and one multi-page final examination

A student’s record of attendance, together with the quality of their writing, will determine the success of our class and contribute the better part of the grade. Students who miss multiple class sessions will not do well in this course.

Schedule Note that classes will meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Physics Building 1 at 12 pm. Class concludes at 1 pm. 

Reading Our primary reading will draw on a series of works on war, including novels, memoirs, non-fiction studies and one epic poem. These works are listed below under Required Texts. Please obtain these books in your own copies and in the edition specified either from local bookstores or from online suppliers, so that you will be able to highlight and annotate them and so that during discussions we will all be “on the same page.” 

I have also listed several secondary volumes and will likely suggest other books and articles as the class progresses. These are not required but are suggested for students wanting to supplement their primary reading.

Films We will assign some war movies during the class and I will list those below. I urge students to watch these films together, on as large a screen as you can find and in at least one full viewing without interruption.

Favorite Passages Always come to lecture with a favorite passage – anything from several sentences to a paragraph — drawn from that session’s assigned reading. Be prepared to read the passage out loud and say a few words about why you chose it.

Writing One four-page paper is required in this class and one final examination.  Papers should be double-spaced, titled and paginated and handed in through bCourses by midnight of Wednesday, October 29. The prompt for the paper will be discussed in class. 

     The final examination will be given on Friday, December 19, from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm at a location to be announced. This exam, a combination of short answer and short essays, will be intended to assess your familiarity with and comprehension of the reading and the lectures.

     To bolster the clarity and vigor of your prose, I strongly suggest reading or re-reading George Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language,” which is easily found on the web. Strunk and White’s little manual, The Elements of Style is also very useful and highly recommended.

Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT and other AI are not permitted in writing the paper or elsewhere in our course work.

Office Hours I will be holding office hours most Friday afternoons, between 1:30 and 3 pm, usually at Abe’s Café, 1842 Euclid Avenue, just to the north of campus. Course assistant Claire Runze Wu – clairerwu@berkeley.edu – will begin to schedule via a sign up sheet on bCourse two weeks into the semester.  You are welcome to come talk to me about the class, the reading, your career — or anything else of interest. Which is to say: You don’t need a specific class-based reason to come to office hours. I urge you to come at least once during the semester.

My writing and speaking and syllabi for past courses can be found on my website, www.markdanner.com 

Course Readers Our course readers are Hamza Abdel Fahmy —hamfahm@berkely.edu — who will hold office hours on Mondays at 3 – 5 pm at Wheeler 309, and Annabelle Littlejohn-Bailey- alittlejohnbailey@berkeley.edu – for whose office hours you can sign up at this link. These arrangements will be discussed in the first class as well. 

Grading Students will be graded on their attendance and participation in class, the strength of their written work, and the quality of their final exam, as follows:

Attendance                20 percent

Midterm Paper       35 percent

Final Examination    45 percent 

Required Texts

Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in Conquered City (Picador, 2000)

Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote (Vintage, 1994)

Euripides, Trojan Women, trans. Alan Shapiro (Oxford, 2009 [415 BC])

Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012)

Michael Herr, Dispatches (Vintage, 1991)

John Hersey, Hiroshima (Vintage, 1989 [1946])

Homer, The Iliad, trans. Emily Wilson (Norton, 2023 [c 700 BC])

Primo Levi, If This Is A Man (Abacus, 2003)

Sven Lindqvist, A History of Bombing (New Press, 2003)

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (Mariner, 2009 [1990])

Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front (Vintage, 1994 [1929])

Required Films

Michael Cacoyannis, The Trojan Women (1971)

Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now (1979)

Stanley Kubrick, Paths of Glory (1957)

Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Gillo Pontecorvo, Battle of Algiers (1966)

Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Oliver Stone, Salvador (1986)

Michael Ware, Only the Dead (2015)

Tentative Syllabus

September 3, 2025 – The Literature of War, An Introduction. War as a Constant in Human History. War Came Before Writing, the State, Perhaps Even Speech. The Kinds of War. The Evolution of War. War Today. The Literature of War. Today’s Wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Different Modes. Poetry. Go Tell the Spartans. Dulce et Decorum Est. From the Epic Heroic to the Low Realistic. Epic Poem, Novel, Memoir, Reportage, Creative Nonfiction. The Subject of War Literature. The Format of this Course. Friday Discussions. Reading and Watching. How to Watch Films. Trigger Warnings for Films. The Aims of the Course. Requirements. Attending All Lectures. Midterm Paper. Final Examination. Office Hours: Signing Up. Course Assistant. Readers. Massacre and Human Rights.

The People’s War – Insurgency and Massacre

September 5 — Read: Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote (Vintage, 1994), pp. 3 – 84.

September 6 – Apocalypse Now: Final Cut screening, BAMPFA, 3:30 pm

September 8 – Read: Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote (Vintage, 1994), 85 – 161 and Appendices. 

                          Watch: Oliver Stone, Salvador (1986)

War of Epics, War of Heroes

September 10 – Read: Homer, The Iliad, trans. Emily Wilson (Norton, 2023), pp. 1 – 96.

September 12 – Read: Homer, The Iliad, trans. Emily Wilson (Norton, 2023), pp. 97 – 222.

September 15 – Read: Homer, The Iliad, trans. Emily Wilson (Norton, 2023), pp. 223 – 348.

September 17 – Read: Homer, The Iliad, trans. Emily Wilson (Norton, 2023), pp. 349 – 462.

September 19 – Read: Homer, The Iliad, trans. Emily Wilson (Norton, 2023), pp. 463 – 610.

September 22 – Read: Euripides, Trojan Woman, trans. Alan Shapiro (Oxford, 2009), pp. 31 – 78.

September 24 – Read: Euripides, Trojan Woman, trans. Alan Shapiro (Oxford, 2009), pp. 31 – 78.

                            Watch: Michael Cacoyannis, The Trojan Women (1971)

Modern Industrial Warfare

September 26 – Read: Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front (Vintage, 1994 [1929]), pp. 1 – 68.

September 29 – Read: Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front (Vintage, 1994 [1929]), pp. 69 – 136.

October 1 – Read: Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front (Vintage, 1994 [1929]), pp. 137 – 200.

                     Watch: Stanley Kubrick, Paths of Glory (1957)

Mass Murder: War as Genocide

October 3 – Read: Primo Levi, If This Is A Man (Abacus, 2003), 15 – 61.

October 6 – Read: Primo Levi, If This Is A Man (Abacus, 2003), 62 – 106.

October 8– Read: Primo Levi, If This Is A Man (Abacus, 2003), 107 – 179.

                    Watch: Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan (1998)

                    Read: Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men (Harper, 1992), excerpts

October 10 – Read: Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City (Picador, 2000), pp. 1 – 90.

October 13 – Read: Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City (Picador, 2000), pp. 90 – 181.

October 15 – Read: Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City (Picador, 2000), pp. 182 – 261.

Apocalypse: Strategic Bombing and Nuclear Holocaust

October 17 – Read: John Hersey, Hiroshima (Vintage, 1989 [1946]), pp. 1 – 90.

October 20 – Read: John Hersey, Hiroshima (Vintage, 1989 [1946]), pp. 91 – 152.

October 22 – Read: Sven Lindqvist, A History of Bombing (New Press, 2003), “Bang, You’re Dead” through (and including) “Bombed Into Savagery”

October 24 – Read: Sven Lindqvist, A History of Bombing (New Press, 2003), 

Section “The Law and the Prophets” through (and including)  “Hiroshima”

October 27 – Read: Sven Lindqvist, A History of Bombing (New Press, 2003), “Living with the Superweapon” through (and including) “Nothing Human”

                      Watch: Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove

The Cascading Dilemmas of Vietnam

October 29 – Read: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (Mariner, 2009 [1990]), pp. 1 – 81.

Four-Page Midterm Paper Due. Papers should be double-spaced, titled and paginated and handed in through bCourses by midnight, October 29.

The prompt for this paper will be discussed in class.

October 31 – Read: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (Mariner, 2009 [1990]), pp. 82 –170.

October 31 – Apocalypse Now: Final Cut screening, BAMPFA, 6:30 pm

November 3 – Read: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (Mariner, 2009 [1990]), pp. 171 – 233.

November 5 – Read: Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (Mariner, 2009 [1990])

November 7 – Read: Michael Herr, Dispatches (Vintage, 1991), pp.  3 – 85.

November 10 – Veterans Day, No Class

November 12 – Read: Michael Herr, Dispatches (Vintage, 1991), pp. 86 – 186.

                          Watch: Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now (1979) 

November 14 — Read: Michael Herr, Dispatches (Vintage, 1991), pp. 187 – 260.

Debacle in the Desert: The Iraq War

November 17 — Read: Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012), pp. 1 – 73.

                           Watch:  Michael Ware, Only the Dead (2015)

November 19 – Read: Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012), pp. 74 – 138.

                     Read: Mark Danner, “Delusions in Baghdad,” New York Review of     

                      Books, https://markdanner.com/2003/12/18/delusions-in-baghdad/

November 21 – Read: Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012), pp. 139 – 216.

November 24 – Read: Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012), pp. 217 – 287.

                          Watch: Gillo Pontecorvo, Battle of Algiers

December 1 – Read: Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012), pp. 288 – 307.

December 3 – Read: Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012)

December 5 – War and Its Literature: What Have We Gained?

December 19 – FINAL EXAMINATION, 11:30 am – 2:30 pm, Location to be announced

 

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