On Distant Ground (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Olen Butler
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1975
- Setting: Baltimore, Maryland, and Saigon, Vietnam
- Principal Characters: David Fleming, Jennifer Fleming, Carl Lomas, Kenneth Trask, Pham Van Tuyen, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Suong, Khai
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, Biracial people, Asia or Asians, Vietnam War, Military life or service, Baltimore, Vietnam or Vietnamese people
- Locales: Baltimore, MD, Saigon, Vietnam
The Novel
On Distant Ground is the fictional account of Army captain David Fleming and his internal and external conflicts with his experiences in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Within the novel, Robert Olen Butler has not used formal chapter breaks; rather, white space divides one section from the next. The first two-thirds of the novel alternates between scenes in present time and scenes from Fleming’s time in Vietnam. It is in these flashbacks that the reader is given the background for Fleming’s court-martial.
The novel begins with the preliminary stages...
[The entire page is 2407 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
