The Alleys of Eden (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Olen Butler
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Culture, United States or Americans, Love or romance, Interracial relationships, Midwest, Vietnam War, Military life or service, Vietnam or Vietnamese people, Illinois
- Locales: Canada, Illinois, Vietnam
Butler's first published novel, The Alleys of Eden, explores his often-repeated theme of the spiritual and cultural displacement of people by the Vietnam War. The book tells the story of U.S. Army Intelligence officer Clifford Wilkes and his girlfriend, Lanh, a Vietnamese bargirl.
When a prisoner he is interrogating dies of a sudden heart attack, Wilkes decides to desert; he feels that he can no longer believe in the United States, a country defined in his view by vanity and arrogance. He goes to live in an apartment on a Saigon alley with a bargirl named Lanh. She...
[The entire page is 696 words long]
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