![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The book's genesis began in 1968, when Marlantes was shipped off to Vietnam as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps. You think there’s a war between Barnes & Noble and the independents-and on some level there is-but this book wouldn't have gotten published without both of them. Maybe you don't know how to write,'" he recalls, still sounding slightly dazed by his success. "There were many times I would say to myself, ‘Are you crazy, Marlantes? You've been powering away at this damn book for so long. Published in April as a collaboration between the California-based small press El León Literary Arts and Grove/Atlantic, the book-at nearly 650 pages, including a glossary-owes its existence to people in disparate pockets of the publishing industry, as well as to the extraordinary persistence of its sixty-five-year-old author. But for more than thirty years, the manuscript languished in literary purgatory, while the author struggled to find an agent-not to mention a publisher-willing to take it on. Today, Karl Marlantes's debut novel, Matterhorn, is garnering praise for its vivid, trenchant portrayal of American soldiers in the thick of the Vietnam War. ![]()
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