Dear Professor, literary war novels are the essence of great literature. Born under fire, they teach us more about the human condition than any other source, giving us the most altruistic of heroes as well as our deepest, darkest villains. I am seeking academic homes for The Second Tour, a literary war novel that I truly believe belongs in academia, specifically in literature, history and behavior sciences classes. The book is contemporary fiction in the modernist tradition that works in both structure and content toward the reader’s perception of the main character. The protagonist is illuminated through several layers of time collapsed in his attempt to comprehend his experience of the war and its effects. The point of view here is the novel if we agree that form is an aspect of characterization.
One reason I wrote TST was to showcase heroism, but also to warn of the villainy residing within each of us. I used to have nightmares about my war experiences, and sometimes still do, but mostly I now dream of living long enough to see The Second Tour taught in literature classes all across the country. That would be a good thing, not solely for me but for all the students that would take away the various lessons this novel offers. I have therefore concentrated my marketing efforts with that goal in mind and have met with tangential success in that, although unusual in the case of a novel, The Second Tour has been adopted for use in non-literature courses at the following universities:
By Dr. Wilbur J. Scott, professor of behavioral sciences at the US Air Force Academy, for his course titled Military & Society. The book is a case study of PTSD in the making, and is used in his course section called “Aftermath.” Dr. Scott is author of the book Vietnam Veterans Since the War: The Politics of PTSD, Agent Orange, and the National Memorial;
By Dr. Peter Berres, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Kentucky, for use in an interdisciplinary course titled Vietnam: The Interplay of War & Culture. The course is offered in the University’s Discovery Seminar Program, a premier offering for undergraduate students along with the Honors Program; and (soon I’m told)
By Mr. Nathan Matlock, Ph.D. candidate in the history department at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, for an upcoming course on the History of the Vietnam War.
Additionally, it might be relevant that I have a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Oklahoma, plus two years of graduate-level work. I have been previously published in print and on-line journals, most notably Connecticut Review and War, Literature & the Arts. I also sometimes speak at conferences and seminars regarding The Second Tour and my other work, most recently at Regis University, and at the U.S. Air Force Academy. At Regis I have spoken to Dr. Dan Clayton’s history seminar titled The Cold War, and am a regular participant in his Stories From Wartime seminar, an interdisciplinary course co-taught with Dr. Tom Bowie, director of the Honors Program and offered through the Center for the Study of War Experience. At the Academy I have spoken to Dr. Scott’s classes and at last fall’s War Literature symposium sponsored by the English department’s War, Literature and the Arts journal.
Professor, I would appreciate it if you would please browse my website to see if The Second Tour is something you or one of your colleagues would consider adopting. If so, I would be very happy to send you a copy. The novel has gotten pretty good reviews from Midwest Book Review and from the Military Writers Society of America. Several Readers Comments can be found on Amazon.
Thank you, take care, and I hope to hear from you, Terry
Terry P. Rizzuti
http://thesecondtour.com
Tags: book adoption, english professor, the second tour
