Among the Nightmare Fighters
American Poets of World War II
Diederik Oostdijk
In the first comprehensive study of the American male poets of World War II, Diederik
Oostdijk gives voice to the literary men still considered to be a part of the Silent Generation. Focusing not only on soldier poets, but also on conscientious objectors and
those deemed unfit for military service, Among the Nightmare Fighters sheds light on
the struggles faced by writers—including Randall Jarrell, Anthony Hecht, Robert Lowell,
Howard Nemerov, William Stafford, and others—from the onset of the U.S. involvement
in the war in Europe to the painful physical and psychological aftereffects soldiers carried with them following their service years.
Enriched with extensive historical and personal background information drawn from
the poets’ archives, Oostdijk’s study demonstrates the importance of appreciating these
men not only as a collective literary group, but also as solitary writers experiencing the
hardships and adversities of war on an individual level. He emphasizes each author’s distinctive perceptions of the disasters they witnessed and the conflicts they witnessed—
such as Karl Shapiro’s struggle with his Jewish identification, James Dickey’s fascination
with the meaning and projection of manhood, Nemerov’s perception of war’s effect
on American society, and Ciardi’s preoccupation with traumatizing combat memories.
A factor that connected these men in their responses to war was their overreaching
efforts to identify as individuals and not merely as blurred faces among the myriad combatants, a goal that Oostdijk acknowledges in recognizing the unique experiences of his
subjects as key to interpreting their poetry.
Diederik Oostdijk is an associate professor at the VU University in Amsterdam. He is the coeditor of Tales of the
Great American Victory: World War II in
Politics and Poetics.
June 2011, 304 pages
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