Billy Lynn's crazy hero tour

This article is about the novel. For the film version of the same name, see Billy Lynn's crazy hero tour (film) .

The crazy heroic tour of Billy Lynn (English original title: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk ) is a novel by the American writer Ben Fountain , which describes the experiences of soldiers of a small military unit who sent the Pentagon on a propaganda trip through the USA during the Iraq war and then return to war. The novel was published in the United States in May 2012. Translated into German by Pieke Biermann , it was published by Deutsches Taschenbuch Verlag in 2013 .

The novel won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2012 and was voted one of the 20 best novels of the early 21st century in a BBC poll .

action

The time of the action is not explicitly stated, but from the circumstances described it can be concluded that the action takes place in 2004.

Eight soldiers from the Bravo Squad, which includes 19-year-old Billy Lynn, are invited as guests of honor to a Dallas Cowboys football game on Thanksgiving . The unit is on a propaganda tour of the USA leading from shopping centers to skateboard parks: a television team from the television station Fox accidentally made recordings when they killed an enemy elite troop in a battle stylized as a battle. In this short film, Billy Lynn is shown, among other things, how he takes care of a comrade he has hit while shooting with one hand in a spectacular battle. The injured soldier does not survive, but the unit has been frenetically celebrated for its work in their home country since these recordings were broadcast on US television.

The invitation to the football game is the last stage of their propaganda tour before the soldiers have to return to the war in Iraq. While the young soldiers celebrate in the VIP lounge with people who belong to an income group that is unattainable for them, Billy Lynn reflects on his childhood, the dramatic death of his comrade in his arms, the unreal hustle and bustle around them, in which people, for them that the war is far away, always asking the same questions. A brief romance ensues between Billy Lynn and one of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders . She is shocked when Billy Lynn tells her about his dream of not having to return to the war. She promises to wait for him. Billy Lynn, on the other hand, is certain that none of the people who just celebrated him euphorically would be willing to wait years for his return. He finds understanding only from his comrades who return to war with him.

Reviews

In a review for the news magazine Der Spiegel, Tobias Becker calls the novel an enjoyable satire on everything that fuels the mainstream imagination of the USA: war and religion, television and football. This political novel reveals what war and religion, television and football otherwise poorly conceal: the capitalist class society. In the novel, among other things, soldiers who risk their lives for an annual salary of USD 14,800 (approx. € 1,100 per month) are confronted with people who spend USD 400 (approx. € 350) on a dressing gown. Becker describes the novel as the literary counterpart to the classic Oscar candidate: formally unambitious, but morally on the right side and calls it mass entertainment with a claim.

Theo Tait is more positive than the reviewer for Der Spiegel in his review for the British newspaper The Guardian . Tait calls the novel angry and inspiring, funny and ambitious. Tait takes up the fact that the novel by the author Karl Marlantes was compared with Catch-22 , the well-known anti-war novel by Joseph Heller , but points out that little of the plot can be compared with Catch-22 . Tait is much more reminiscent of the fact that the novel ties in with episodes from films and novels that are part of our cultural memory: the Playboybunnies scene in the film Apocalypse Now , the military disasters in Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket , Norman Mailer's analysis of US- American celebrities and the baseball scene in Don DeLillo's novel Underworld . In its skilful, post-modern processing of a world dominated by media, the novel reminds of the works of well-known authors such as Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace . However, Tait notes critically that the storyline of the novel is thin and the individual scenes are not always sustained. He also believes that Ben Fountain believes that his main character, Billy Lynn, has a reflective ability and choice of words that is difficult to reconcile with the idea of ​​a young man who left school early.

In his review for the New York Times, Geoff Dyer also takes up the reference to Catch-22 and refers to an episode that could have come directly from this novel. The planned film adaptation of Bravo Squad's war effort will only find financiers if a well-known film star signs that he will star in the film. But no well-known film star signs it until the film has a financier. Dyer certifies that the novel has linguistic weaknesses on the first fifty pages. However, he assures that the novel will not only develop into a linguistic fireworks display afterwards, but that the reader has at this point developed such an affection for the decent Billy Lynn and his seven comrades who are still alive that he can no longer put the novel down. In summary, he calls the novel a great and gratifying achievement.

filming

Two-time Oscar winner Ang Lee is directing the film adaptation announced for 2016 . Filming began in April 2015, with locations including Atlanta and the Middle East. Actors who will star in the film include Garrett Hedlund , Kristen Stewart , Vin Diesel , Steve Martin , Chris Tucker and Ben Platt . The role of Billy Lynn is played by the not yet known actor Joe Alwyn.

Publications

• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk . Novel, HarperCollins , New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-06-088559-5 .
  • Dt: The crazy hero tour of Billy Lynn . Novel. From the American by Pieke Biermann , dtv premium, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-423-24994-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tobias Becker: US war heroes novel: Victory jubilation for the worst day of life. In: DER SPIEGEL. December 18, 2013, accessed June 5, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Theo Tait: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain - review. Is this exhilarating debut 'the Catch-22 of the Iraq war'? In: The Guardian. July 6, 2012, accessed June 5, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Geoff Dyer: SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW America's Team 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk,' by Ben Fountain. In: New York Times. May 18, 2012, accessed June 5, 2015 . 
4. ^ Ang Lee's "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" Movie Extras Call in Atlanta. Auditionsfree.com, March 5, 2015, accessed June 5, 2015 .