SOURCE: King, Rosemary. “O'Brien's ‘How to Tell a True War Story’.” The Explicator 57, no. 3 (spring 1999): 182-84.

In the following essay, King asserts that in “How to Tell a True War Story” O'Brien “lures readers into a debate over fact and fiction that ultimately privileges the latter.”

The title of Tim O'Brien's short story “How to Tell a True War Story” is a pun. On one hand, O'Brien is asking how a listener can distinguish whether a story is a factual retelling of events; on the other he outlines “how to tell” a war story. The meaning of the title depends on the reader's position: If listening to a war story, the title suggests, O'Brien will help you to discern whether the story is real; if telling a war story, the title implies that O'Brien will show you how to narrate a story well. The title, however, defies paradigmatic...