The book has no table of contents. I checked in the back where the French often put one. Nope.
It’s a BD, bande dessinée, what French have instead of comic books, comic strips, the funnies and god help us graphic novels. You could call it a classic comic where the tale the comic re-tells is itself.
Founded on personal witness, other histories, and the artist’s own investigations, you won’t find a more sound account of the events it addresses, but the book is not a monograph with critical apparatus to help you look things up. There is no bibliography, dramatis personae, glossary,
index, literature survey or statement of method and of course there is no table of illustrations any more than there is a table of contents. This is a work of narrative art, as we have started saying here in the United States of America. It is a waking dream.
There are no blurbs chattering on the cover, no price or publishing category given. Nobody is telling you what to think about it. The best way to have this dream is to open your eyes and turn the pages.
I have had the dream. I am thinking about it. So I have written a table of contents.
Viet Nam letters respects the property of others under paragraph 107 of United States Code Title 17. If we asked for permission it wouldn’t be criticism. We explain our fair use at length in the letter of September 12, 2022.
The colophon of these Viet Nam letters, directly above, shows the janitor speaking with poet David A. Willson on a Veterans Day.
Love these mini-reviews of narrative art sans chattering and cover categories.