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Afghanistan Picture Show; oder wie ich lernte, die Welt zu retten
In 1982 William T. Vollmann, one of our most versatile talents, traveled to see the war in Afghanistan. In An Afghanistan Picture Show, his first book-length work of non-fiction, Vollmann paints a brutally honest and dryly comic portrait of a young American coming to terms with his political naivete. It is the story of a would-be giver who finds himself a perpetual Stranger, unable to comprehend the simplest things he hears and sees, and continually compelled to rely on others for help. In two narrative perspectives, Vollmann wryly confronts his own inadequacy in the face of limitless suffering and comes to the realization that one who went to aid and to understand could only hope, trust, and receive. In An Afghanistan Picture Show Vollmann describes a Cold War world of spies and lurking strangeness, a world in which his younger self asks unanswerable questions of orphans, refugees, guerrilla leaders, bureaucrats, corrupt officials, and prescient has-been politicians. He tells of Pakistan, a country as gracious in spirit as she is materially poor. And in his unnerving innocence Vollmann explores a land in which others continually invest him with almost supernatural powers simply because he is American. An ingenious narrative which inverts the very concept of the "white man's burden" and questions the idea of "truth" in non-fiction, An Afghanistan Picture Show stands as William T. Vollmann most entertaining--and autobiographical--work to date.
383 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
21 people are currently reading
1064 people want to read
About the author
William T. Vollmann
99 books1,456 followersWilliam Tanner Vollmann is an American author, journalist, and essayist known for his ambitious and often unconventional literary works. Born on July 28, 1959, in Los Angeles, California, Vollmann has earned a reputation as one of the most prolific and daring writers of his generation.
Vollmann's early life was marked by tragedy; his sister drowned when he was a child, an event that profoundly impacted him and influenced his writing. He attended Deep Springs College, a small, isolated liberal arts college in California, before transferring to Cornell University, where he studied comparative literature. After college, Vollmann spent some time in Afghanistan as a freelance journalist, an experience that would later inform some of his works.
His first novel, You Bright and Risen Angels (1987), is a sprawling, experimental work that blends fantasy, history, and social commentary. This novel set the tone for much of his later work, characterized by its complexity, depth, and a willingness to tackle difficult and controversial subjects.
Vollmann's most acclaimed work is The Rainbow Stories (1989), a collection of interlinked short stories that explore the darker sides of human nature. His nonfiction is equally notable, particularly Rising Up and Rising Down (2003), a seven-volume treatise on violence, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Over the years, Vollmann has continued to write prolifically, producing novels, short stories, essays, and journalistic pieces. His work often delves into themes of violence, poverty, and the struggles of marginalized people. He has received several awards, including the National Book Award for Fiction in 2005 for Europe Central, a novel about the moral dilemmas faced by individuals during World War II.
Vollmann is known for his immersive research methods, often placing himself in dangerous situations to better understand his subjects. Despite his literary success, he remains somewhat of an outsider in the literary world, frequently shunning public appearances and maintaining a low profile.
In addition to his writing, Vollmann is also an accomplished photographer, and his photographs often accompany his written work. Painting is also an art where's working on, celebrating expositions in the United States, showing his paintings. His diverse interests and unflinching approach to his subjects have made him a unique voice in contemporary American literature.
Vollmann's early life was marked by tragedy; his sister drowned when he was a child, an event that profoundly impacted him and influenced his writing. He attended Deep Springs College, a small, isolated liberal arts college in California, before transferring to Cornell University, where he studied comparative literature. After college, Vollmann spent some time in Afghanistan as a freelance journalist, an experience that would later inform some of his works.
His first novel, You Bright and Risen Angels (1987), is a sprawling, experimental work that blends fantasy, history, and social commentary. This novel set the tone for much of his later work, characterized by its complexity, depth, and a willingness to tackle difficult and controversial subjects.
Vollmann's most acclaimed work is The Rainbow Stories (1989), a collection of interlinked short stories that explore the darker sides of human nature. His nonfiction is equally notable, particularly Rising Up and Rising Down (2003), a seven-volume treatise on violence, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Over the years, Vollmann has continued to write prolifically, producing novels, short stories, essays, and journalistic pieces. His work often delves into themes of violence, poverty, and the struggles of marginalized people. He has received several awards, including the National Book Award for Fiction in 2005 for Europe Central, a novel about the moral dilemmas faced by individuals during World War II.
Vollmann is known for his immersive research methods, often placing himself in dangerous situations to better understand his subjects. Despite his literary success, he remains somewhat of an outsider in the literary world, frequently shunning public appearances and maintaining a low profile.
In addition to his writing, Vollmann is also an accomplished photographer, and his photographs often accompany his written work. Painting is also an art where's working on, celebrating expositions in the United States, showing his paintings. His diverse interests and unflinching approach to his subjects have made him a unique voice in contemporary American literature.
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May 29, 2020
Hmm, he records some pretty horrifyingly sexist practices among traditional Afghan society, but doesn't seem to make the connection that this was part of why Marxism appealed to Afghan intellectuals. Indeed, he apparently sees it as axiomatic that the mujahideen should be supported. Good lord, what does he imagine his friends were fighting for?? Yankee go home.
Anyway, I remain a Vollmann fan, but this book rubbed me the wrong the way. If Vollmann was so intent on fighting the Soviet Union as a young man, he probably should have just joined the marines, but noooo... much too precious for that. The book is just not good war journalism or history. It's sort of interesting as a portrait of the artist as a young man, but then both Rainbow Stories and You Bright and Risen Angels serve this purpose better.
He never even stops to consider whether outside powers spending billions to arm and empower ultra-reactionary acid throwers might itself be a form of imperialism. Even at the time, it was not a huge secret that CIA and ISI were fomenting unrest before the USSR directly intervened. Still, Vollmann writes as if the mujahideen were the sole and authentic representatives of the Afghan people, as if Afghan culture were not internally contested. You don't have to support the Soviet invasion to find this gross.
If for whatever reason you do read this book, I think you should at least also read about this Afghan communist named Tahir
When I knew him, Tahir’s eyes would fill with tears as he talked about the ignorance and the suffering of the villagers we met. He understood them, and loved them, and knew why it was so hard to convince them.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/05/af...
Read
August 21, 2016What ought to count as WTV's true First Book will finally receive a new edition from Melville House, July 9, 2013.
Considering how long the USofA has been killing people in Afghanistan it is high time that this little book of idealism and "do something"ism is returned to the public.
http://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Pic...
Considering how long the USofA has been killing people in Afghanistan it is high time that this little book of idealism and "do something"ism is returned to the public.
http://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Pic...
March 2, 2017
I have been a youth worker for the last two years. My efforts to make a difference in some of these youths lives, if I am to be honest, seems to me pretty pathetic. The cycle of abuse and violence in our society is so strong I'm astonished at its powers. I feel like a failure against such an unbelievable force.
William Vollmann as a Young Man tried to go to Afghanistan to help them fight the Russians. He failed miserably and pathetically.
I find the honesty and complexity of this story seriously beautiful and real. So much more real than all the simple narratives that we love to digest (in book, tv, movie, or even in our interpretations of our lives).
I find his efforts to do something, and his shame at being so useless (and his honesty in facing this shame) extremely touching and personal.
William Vollmann as a Young Man tried to go to Afghanistan to help them fight the Russians. He failed miserably and pathetically.
I find the honesty and complexity of this story seriously beautiful and real. So much more real than all the simple narratives that we love to digest (in book, tv, movie, or even in our interpretations of our lives).
I find his efforts to do something, and his shame at being so useless (and his honesty in facing this shame) extremely touching and personal.
October 11, 2023
Review available on Episode 1 of the VOLLMANNIA podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
March 24, 2016
In which our hero drinks an awful lot of Sprite...
Quickly: the "Alaska" chapter and "The Toy Airplane" vignette rank alongside my favorite WTV of all-time.
I’m going to get out of my own way and let WTV’s Wittgenstein-inspired self-analyses speak for themselves (see below). The applicability of this book to our modern global paradigm is stunning. For those who marvel at our hero’s later adventuring, bear in mind that he was literally pissing blood and riddled with intestinal worms in Afghanistan and Pakistan on his own dime long before being published—all in his never ending pursuit of doing the ‘right thing.’ As the below adroitly observes, ‘right’ is subjective and our Western conceptualization of the same does not inherently make it so for others. I remain resolute in my opinion that WTV is an exceptionally well-intentioned man, unparalleled among his other writers.
"I believed, and still do, that every human being is my brother or sister, and therefore that we are all of us equally deserving of help."
-WTV, 2013
From An Afghanistan Picture Show:
(1) Being a citizen of the U.S.A., I really don’t understand what anyone is doing in Afghanistan. This failure of imagination, while not directly relevant, nonetheless vitiates my activities.
(2) Even if the Afghans get their country back, in the long run it will be invaded again. Whether or not this is a ludicrous argument depends on how long the long run is. It does not make sense to give up brushing my teeth on the grounds that someday they will fall out anyway, but it may be intelligent not to rebuild a house of cards in a strong prevailing wind. I suppose that if Afghanistan were left to itself during the rest of my lifetime I would be satisfied. But that would hardly encourage me to live a long time.
(3) Since I have decided to be “of service,” people might well ask me whom I will be of service to, and under what circumstances. —“If I saw a woman being starved by her relatives I would help her.” This absurdity can be demolished fairly easily. Afghan women and girls tend to be malnourished. They eat last. Sometimes, a doctor in the camps told me, their families just let them die. If the only evil that had been brought to my attention vis-à-vis Afghanistan were the suffering of women within the family, I’d never have lifted a finger, because I am neither Afghan nor a woman, and so right away I would KNOW that there was nothing that I could do. It might well be that in changing the position of a woman in an Afghan family I would destroy the Afghan family. (Maybe, for that matter, it is better to be an Afghan woman than an American woman. I might prefer to eat last and to be protected from men’s eyes by my thick black veil while I sat in my hot tent than, wearing my fashionable skirt, to eat all I want in some restaurant while enduring comments about my tits. Who am I to say? —How simple, by comparison, is the wrongness of a napalm wound!) —Most likely, if I were an Afghan woman I would have no idea of what it would be like not to be an Afghan woman. As it is, I have no idea how to help any or all Afghan women be Afghan women. Should I marry four refugees, as the Holy Qur’an allows, and try to make them all happy?
(4) “If I wanted to help a woman I would not rape her.” —This, too, shows a fundamental misunderstanding. I must take photographs of Afghan women. Otherwise, American women might think that Afghans are sexist (wouldn’t that be wrong?) and not want to help them. American men would be disappointed at not having the above-mentioned exotic faces and tits to comment on. —Fair enough. —I explain my requirement to the administrator of the camp, a very obliging Pakistani gentleman. —“I understand, sir,” he tells me. “I get some women for you.” —He turns to the refugees and explains. Voices rise, but he does what he has to do; he yells at them; the voices become more excited and angry than ever; he lifts his arms firmly, shouts the Afghans down, reaches out, pushes away a boy, and points to a woman, whose baby on her shoulder turns its head, sees me, and starts to cry. The woman crouches miserably in the sand like a dark bird. Her husband comes forward, balling his fists at me, and the administrator puts a hand on his chest and pushes him back. He stands there looking at me. We are surrounded by people—the woman, the administrator and I—all of them standing and looking at me. The administrator speaks to the woman rapidly and fiercely. Everyone is murmuring and watching my face. The woman removes her veil. She will not look at me. I see her cheeks, her mouth. Her unbound hair. I move to one side and raise my camera. I believe I am taking good pictures. —Afterward, the administrator goes to speak with her husband, who finally comes forward. —“Dera miraboni,” he says to me. Thank you very much. —We shake hands.
(5) In proposing to help the Afghans, I must accept the postulate that it is better for people to be exploited by their neighbors than by strangers. I cannot prove this.
(6) Nor is it fair to claim that the atrocities currently committed by the Soviets represent what would be an ongoing situation once the resistance movement was wiped out. Surviving Afghans would probably be forced into a more equitable system of distribution than currently exists. The women would receive as much food (or as little) as the men, we might hope.
(7) “But this would mean destroying the indigenous culture.” —After x years of Soviet rule, it would be the indigenous culture. Surely the current culture of Afghanistan displaced an earlier one. There is thus no need for action. Anyway, what does being indigenous have to do with whether a culture is “good” or “bad”?
(8) “But isn’t inaction in situations of human suffering even worse than making the wrong decision?” —Oh, I don’t know about that.
(9) If the Soviets took over the world, humanity would become more homogeneous. It seems that heterogeneity is one of the principal causes of strife: the conclusion must be that every new school of fish that Leviathan swallows extends by so much the dominions of peace. Of course, the process of mastication and digestion is a little painful, but ah! after that, each glob of excrement will be like every other; and wide, toothy smile at us) we ourselves will all be one mass of tranquility and quietude.
(10) Besides, nobody else is interested in Afghanistan.
Quickly: the "Alaska" chapter and "The Toy Airplane" vignette rank alongside my favorite WTV of all-time.
I’m going to get out of my own way and let WTV’s Wittgenstein-inspired self-analyses speak for themselves (see below). The applicability of this book to our modern global paradigm is stunning. For those who marvel at our hero’s later adventuring, bear in mind that he was literally pissing blood and riddled with intestinal worms in Afghanistan and Pakistan on his own dime long before being published—all in his never ending pursuit of doing the ‘right thing.’ As the below adroitly observes, ‘right’ is subjective and our Western conceptualization of the same does not inherently make it so for others. I remain resolute in my opinion that WTV is an exceptionally well-intentioned man, unparalleled among his other writers.
"I believed, and still do, that every human being is my brother or sister, and therefore that we are all of us equally deserving of help."
-WTV, 2013
From An Afghanistan Picture Show:
(1) Being a citizen of the U.S.A., I really don’t understand what anyone is doing in Afghanistan. This failure of imagination, while not directly relevant, nonetheless vitiates my activities.
(2) Even if the Afghans get their country back, in the long run it will be invaded again. Whether or not this is a ludicrous argument depends on how long the long run is. It does not make sense to give up brushing my teeth on the grounds that someday they will fall out anyway, but it may be intelligent not to rebuild a house of cards in a strong prevailing wind. I suppose that if Afghanistan were left to itself during the rest of my lifetime I would be satisfied. But that would hardly encourage me to live a long time.
(3) Since I have decided to be “of service,” people might well ask me whom I will be of service to, and under what circumstances. —“If I saw a woman being starved by her relatives I would help her.” This absurdity can be demolished fairly easily. Afghan women and girls tend to be malnourished. They eat last. Sometimes, a doctor in the camps told me, their families just let them die. If the only evil that had been brought to my attention vis-à-vis Afghanistan were the suffering of women within the family, I’d never have lifted a finger, because I am neither Afghan nor a woman, and so right away I would KNOW that there was nothing that I could do. It might well be that in changing the position of a woman in an Afghan family I would destroy the Afghan family. (Maybe, for that matter, it is better to be an Afghan woman than an American woman. I might prefer to eat last and to be protected from men’s eyes by my thick black veil while I sat in my hot tent than, wearing my fashionable skirt, to eat all I want in some restaurant while enduring comments about my tits. Who am I to say? —How simple, by comparison, is the wrongness of a napalm wound!) —Most likely, if I were an Afghan woman I would have no idea of what it would be like not to be an Afghan woman. As it is, I have no idea how to help any or all Afghan women be Afghan women. Should I marry four refugees, as the Holy Qur’an allows, and try to make them all happy?
(4) “If I wanted to help a woman I would not rape her.” —This, too, shows a fundamental misunderstanding. I must take photographs of Afghan women. Otherwise, American women might think that Afghans are sexist (wouldn’t that be wrong?) and not want to help them. American men would be disappointed at not having the above-mentioned exotic faces and tits to comment on. —Fair enough. —I explain my requirement to the administrator of the camp, a very obliging Pakistani gentleman. —“I understand, sir,” he tells me. “I get some women for you.” —He turns to the refugees and explains. Voices rise, but he does what he has to do; he yells at them; the voices become more excited and angry than ever; he lifts his arms firmly, shouts the Afghans down, reaches out, pushes away a boy, and points to a woman, whose baby on her shoulder turns its head, sees me, and starts to cry. The woman crouches miserably in the sand like a dark bird. Her husband comes forward, balling his fists at me, and the administrator puts a hand on his chest and pushes him back. He stands there looking at me. We are surrounded by people—the woman, the administrator and I—all of them standing and looking at me. The administrator speaks to the woman rapidly and fiercely. Everyone is murmuring and watching my face. The woman removes her veil. She will not look at me. I see her cheeks, her mouth. Her unbound hair. I move to one side and raise my camera. I believe I am taking good pictures. —Afterward, the administrator goes to speak with her husband, who finally comes forward. —“Dera miraboni,” he says to me. Thank you very much. —We shake hands.
(5) In proposing to help the Afghans, I must accept the postulate that it is better for people to be exploited by their neighbors than by strangers. I cannot prove this.
(6) Nor is it fair to claim that the atrocities currently committed by the Soviets represent what would be an ongoing situation once the resistance movement was wiped out. Surviving Afghans would probably be forced into a more equitable system of distribution than currently exists. The women would receive as much food (or as little) as the men, we might hope.
(7) “But this would mean destroying the indigenous culture.” —After x years of Soviet rule, it would be the indigenous culture. Surely the current culture of Afghanistan displaced an earlier one. There is thus no need for action. Anyway, what does being indigenous have to do with whether a culture is “good” or “bad”?
(8) “But isn’t inaction in situations of human suffering even worse than making the wrong decision?” —Oh, I don’t know about that.
(9) If the Soviets took over the world, humanity would become more homogeneous. It seems that heterogeneity is one of the principal causes of strife: the conclusion must be that every new school of fish that Leviathan swallows extends by so much the dominions of peace. Of course, the process of mastication and digestion is a little painful, but ah! after that, each glob of excrement will be like every other; and wide, toothy smile at us) we ourselves will all be one mass of tranquility and quietude.
(10) Besides, nobody else is interested in Afghanistan.
April 12, 2021
Questo non è un libro “politico”, né da ascrivere al genere della letteratura di viaggio: è, semplicemente, umano. Vollmann è uno di noi; è chiunque provi a dare una mano con scarsi mezzi ma con tanta volontà, con sete di conoscenza e una buona - anche troppo - dose di ingenuità. Tant’è vero che, con il giudizio e la saggezza che il trascorrere degli anni talvolta forniscono, lo stesso autore si rende conto della follia dell’impresa e della sua vanità, poiché delle tre variabili fondamentali per dare aiuto agli Afgani (cervello, mani, soldi, a detta del generale N.), lui possedeva solo la prima.
E tuttavia, anche se con autoironia Vollmann ci dice di esser stato solo un peso inutile per chi lo ha ospitato e per i mujahiddin che lo hanno portato con sé, io non credo che il Giovanotto (è lui stesso a chiamarsi così e a parlare in terza persona) abbia contribuito con un verso al poema epico e tragico che si è consumato nell’Asia centrale. Le sue foto, le interviste, le interminabili marce in territorio nemico, hanno spesso incuriosito, regalato attimi di divertimento e anche intenerito coloro che lo hanno conosciuto. Senza contare che Vollmann descrive con precisione la situazione ai limiti dell’irreale relativa ai campi profughi del Pakistan, in cui si vive - si sopravvive - in condizioni pietose.
Come detto, l’autoironia domina spesso queste pagine, costellate di aneddoti che riguardano anche il passato del nostro protagonista (l’inquietante Paese del copriletto, le escursioni con Erica, i bombardamenti russi e così via) e la scrittura e brillante, anche se spesso si perde in divagazioni eccessive. Vollmann ci parla della sua inadeguatezza, delle figuracce derivanti da domande sbagliate, mancanza di condizione fisica, senso di disagio nei confronti delle abitudini dei pakistani (il libro è ambientato in gran parte in Pakistan, dove l’autore si trova in attesa di passare la frontiera e in contatto coi Partiti afgani ribelli che lì hanno sede).
Insomma, Vollmann scrive di aver fallito; eppure, a mio parere, è il primo a sapere che questo libro non è la cronistoria di un fallimento, ma che anzi ci insegna quanto sia complicato capire ciò che accade in luoghi così diversi dall’Occidente del capitalistico benessere. Noi che viviamo negli agi, e che vorremmo aiutare non sapendo neanche come, e che assistiamo inebetiti a tragedie che si consumano. Questo miscuglio tra un reportage e un memoir può aiutare noi a comprendere, a immedesimarci, prima di sparare sentenze. Può essere un monito per eventuali - si spera che non ce ne siano, naturalmente- guerre future.
E tuttavia, anche se con autoironia Vollmann ci dice di esser stato solo un peso inutile per chi lo ha ospitato e per i mujahiddin che lo hanno portato con sé, io non credo che il Giovanotto (è lui stesso a chiamarsi così e a parlare in terza persona) abbia contribuito con un verso al poema epico e tragico che si è consumato nell’Asia centrale. Le sue foto, le interviste, le interminabili marce in territorio nemico, hanno spesso incuriosito, regalato attimi di divertimento e anche intenerito coloro che lo hanno conosciuto. Senza contare che Vollmann descrive con precisione la situazione ai limiti dell’irreale relativa ai campi profughi del Pakistan, in cui si vive - si sopravvive - in condizioni pietose.
Come detto, l’autoironia domina spesso queste pagine, costellate di aneddoti che riguardano anche il passato del nostro protagonista (l’inquietante Paese del copriletto, le escursioni con Erica, i bombardamenti russi e così via) e la scrittura e brillante, anche se spesso si perde in divagazioni eccessive. Vollmann ci parla della sua inadeguatezza, delle figuracce derivanti da domande sbagliate, mancanza di condizione fisica, senso di disagio nei confronti delle abitudini dei pakistani (il libro è ambientato in gran parte in Pakistan, dove l’autore si trova in attesa di passare la frontiera e in contatto coi Partiti afgani ribelli che lì hanno sede).
Insomma, Vollmann scrive di aver fallito; eppure, a mio parere, è il primo a sapere che questo libro non è la cronistoria di un fallimento, ma che anzi ci insegna quanto sia complicato capire ciò che accade in luoghi così diversi dall’Occidente del capitalistico benessere. Noi che viviamo negli agi, e che vorremmo aiutare non sapendo neanche come, e che assistiamo inebetiti a tragedie che si consumano. Questo miscuglio tra un reportage e un memoir può aiutare noi a comprendere, a immedesimarci, prima di sparare sentenze. Può essere un monito per eventuali - si spera che non ce ne siano, naturalmente- guerre future.
November 5, 2017
It shocks me that William Vollmann is still alive. I read most of this during the summer and I'm reviewing some of my notes now - I would like to return to the book and see how it pans out, but I'm not sure whether I'll get a chance.
So I'm going to squeeze out as many interesting lessons as I can from this:
1. It's far easier to harm than to do good. Vollmann entered Afghanistan with good intentions and ambitions, but, other than giving him an interesting story, it didn't really make the dent he seeked. For some people, the takeaway here is: don't be naive, don't try, the world is what it is, that's it. I disagree. The takeaway here is that anything worthwhile is risky and difficult, and it requires competence, grit, and some luck. Continue to be well intentioned, but back it up with skills and hard work and understanding and actual empathy, rather than daydreaming about 'change'.
2. I live in Gibraltar. If Spain decided to send some troops or unofficial terrorists to kill any individuals here, it would cause more hatred towards Spain, more resentment, and stronger resolve. Yet some people here think that places like Afghanistan and Iraq, along with their people deserve it (including the hundreds of thousands of kids who died from not getting vaccines thanks to silly sanctions, or the families that lost loved ones, not to glamorous bombs, but due a lack of access to antibiotics).
3. I have every intention of going to Afghanistan in the future. The tip on reading the Quran with hosts will hopefully come in handy.
4. I recall reading Vollmann's digression on being sick and the impact it has on memory and perception whilst I was down with flu. Made my being sick a bit better, so kudos.
5. I have some other thoughts on this but I'm gonna leave them for later.
So I'm going to squeeze out as many interesting lessons as I can from this:
1. It's far easier to harm than to do good. Vollmann entered Afghanistan with good intentions and ambitions, but, other than giving him an interesting story, it didn't really make the dent he seeked. For some people, the takeaway here is: don't be naive, don't try, the world is what it is, that's it. I disagree. The takeaway here is that anything worthwhile is risky and difficult, and it requires competence, grit, and some luck. Continue to be well intentioned, but back it up with skills and hard work and understanding and actual empathy, rather than daydreaming about 'change'.
2. I live in Gibraltar. If Spain decided to send some troops or unofficial terrorists to kill any individuals here, it would cause more hatred towards Spain, more resentment, and stronger resolve. Yet some people here think that places like Afghanistan and Iraq, along with their people deserve it (including the hundreds of thousands of kids who died from not getting vaccines thanks to silly sanctions, or the families that lost loved ones, not to glamorous bombs, but due a lack of access to antibiotics).
3. I have every intention of going to Afghanistan in the future. The tip on reading the Quran with hosts will hopefully come in handy.
4. I recall reading Vollmann's digression on being sick and the impact it has on memory and perception whilst I was down with flu. Made my being sick a bit better, so kudos.
5. I have some other thoughts on this but I'm gonna leave them for later.
September 8, 2021
4.5 ⭐️
Continuing my Vollmann reading/rereading for 2021. He’s really good 👍
Continuing my Vollmann reading/rereading for 2021. He’s really good 👍
December 26, 2015
Review #26 of "Year of the Review All Read Books"
Guns. They want guns to kill the Russians. That is what the mujahideen wanted most from Vollmann and America. Not so much the aid to the refugees, food, medical supplies. But guns.
What this is most indicative of is the matter of autonomy. Afghanistan was invaded. To the Russian's they were bringing literacy, civic consciousness, infrastructure, elevation of women. This sounds similar to American arguments for their, shall we call them conflicts, in Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem is their autonomy was violated.
Certainly it's within reason for people worldwide to want the world to be healthier, more educated, more widely exposed to the advantages of technology and medicine. And while that line of thinking is often more rhetoric than reality, we still face the cumbersome task of violating a people's right to self-rule. We want them to choose a society in which they have something similar to 1st Amendment rights, but voting people may see that as dangerous. We have a tendency to say, "you're doing it wrong" but to intervene would just produce a faction that wants to strike back at us with a more concentrated fervor.
So a double bind presents itself in which we see their self-rule as perpetuating a humanitarian crisis of oppression and our intervention as a bringing about unsolvable chaos and the ire of those we tried to help. This wasn't highly pronounced in the book, but I felt it was always stuck in the jaws of The Young Man. His rote questions come across as earnest, if a little calculated. The book is about failure; failure on his part to provide meaningful help, and failure on the Russian's part to accomplish their goals.
But the failure is essential in understanding what is perhaps an unsolvable complexity. The Young Man was propelled by Good Intentions. And of course, we all know proverbially where that gets you. The unfortunate consequence is a feeling of powerlessness; that to solve any one problem or even give a significant portion of aid, one has to start over with Universe and try to pick out the stray atoms that will lead to human immorality.
All the same though, Vollmann gives us, if nothing else, textual distillations of humans. In their full authenticity: their sins, their innocence, their desperation to be free (whatever that means), and their boundless generosity. We see men that view women as house pets and a foreign American idealist as a man who must have the very best of their country.
It's telling that Vollmann's last scene in Afghanistan is one that depicts the Afghans fighting the Russians, fulfilling a purpose, and he simply watching, sick with dysentery. He is the thinking, capitulating Hamlet, they are the Name of Action. They have purpose, they have identity, they have a freedom he could not: They did not doubt themselves.
Post Script:
Thought of doing a video review, but for various busy reasons and self-conscious reasons I took the easy way out. I may yet do one because this is the kind of book I like to promote on YouTube.
Speaking of YouTube, in the initial blurb about this book I posted this video link. Part 1 of a BBC documentary on Afghanistan. Part 2 can be found on other non-YouTube sites in full. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a7bP...
Guns. They want guns to kill the Russians. That is what the mujahideen wanted most from Vollmann and America. Not so much the aid to the refugees, food, medical supplies. But guns.
What this is most indicative of is the matter of autonomy. Afghanistan was invaded. To the Russian's they were bringing literacy, civic consciousness, infrastructure, elevation of women. This sounds similar to American arguments for their, shall we call them conflicts, in Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem is their autonomy was violated.
Certainly it's within reason for people worldwide to want the world to be healthier, more educated, more widely exposed to the advantages of technology and medicine. And while that line of thinking is often more rhetoric than reality, we still face the cumbersome task of violating a people's right to self-rule. We want them to choose a society in which they have something similar to 1st Amendment rights, but voting people may see that as dangerous. We have a tendency to say, "you're doing it wrong" but to intervene would just produce a faction that wants to strike back at us with a more concentrated fervor.
So a double bind presents itself in which we see their self-rule as perpetuating a humanitarian crisis of oppression and our intervention as a bringing about unsolvable chaos and the ire of those we tried to help. This wasn't highly pronounced in the book, but I felt it was always stuck in the jaws of The Young Man. His rote questions come across as earnest, if a little calculated. The book is about failure; failure on his part to provide meaningful help, and failure on the Russian's part to accomplish their goals.
But the failure is essential in understanding what is perhaps an unsolvable complexity. The Young Man was propelled by Good Intentions. And of course, we all know proverbially where that gets you. The unfortunate consequence is a feeling of powerlessness; that to solve any one problem or even give a significant portion of aid, one has to start over with Universe and try to pick out the stray atoms that will lead to human immorality.
All the same though, Vollmann gives us, if nothing else, textual distillations of humans. In their full authenticity: their sins, their innocence, their desperation to be free (whatever that means), and their boundless generosity. We see men that view women as house pets and a foreign American idealist as a man who must have the very best of their country.
It's telling that Vollmann's last scene in Afghanistan is one that depicts the Afghans fighting the Russians, fulfilling a purpose, and he simply watching, sick with dysentery. He is the thinking, capitulating Hamlet, they are the Name of Action. They have purpose, they have identity, they have a freedom he could not: They did not doubt themselves.
Post Script:
Thought of doing a video review, but for various busy reasons and self-conscious reasons I took the easy way out. I may yet do one because this is the kind of book I like to promote on YouTube.
Speaking of YouTube, in the initial blurb about this book I posted this video link. Part 1 of a BBC documentary on Afghanistan. Part 2 can be found on other non-YouTube sites in full. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a7bP...
July 27, 2008
Vollmann went to the Afghan border in 1982 unbidden and unconnected, a twenty-two year old thick with Wittgenstein and the desire as he put it, "to learn if there was a way to help people get across rivers." He found that it was he who needed carrying over rivers on the backs of mujaheddin as he slowed their entry into the areas of fighting against the Soviet occupiers. Overwhelmed by both unceasing demands and unceasing acts of generosity, he clung to his tape recorder, his camera and his self-made version of an empirical method, determined to penetrate the conflict and bring back the data that would yield up his heroes after later analysis. Written between recollections and the time itself, the book is a portrait of intellectual self-consciousness, the knots of First World charity and encounter after encounter with men willing to fight "with their guns and everything" against any new wave of invaders, whatever language of legitimation they might be speaking this time.
August 26, 2021
The Young Man’s vignette style of storytelling is consistent with his later work, as are the uninterrupted interviews, illustrations, and a preoccupation with deeply analyzing his own reaction to whatever dangerous situation he finds himself in.
July 28, 2025
honk shoo shoo
May 5, 2025
Vollman makes idealism go right and wrong while pursuing "good". As always, fascinating.
April 29, 2016
For chronicling an utter disaster, there's so much value in this book! I would recommend it to anyone interested in traveling abroad to "help" others (or, really, traveling abroad in general.) In some ways you could say this book is a failure. Young Vollmann makes a trip to "help" the Afghans, and quickly realizes (and sometimes, painfully, doesn't realize until later) that he has no idea what he's doing or getting into (or how difficult he's been making things for other people).
What's so great about this book, though, is how he honestly explores his cluelessness and his failure. This story rings true in a way that most traveling journalism books don't. There's a whole genre of guys dropping into a troubled country for a few weeks or months to get the lay of the land and then making grand sweeping pronouncements about local culture & character and What the World Must Do Right Now. I always get the feeling that these books are nonsense - heroic journalists risking danger/hardship, making deep connections, coming to hard-won (or easily-won!) epiphanies, to uncover the true lay of the land and its people - with much of the horrible misunderstandings, insults, complicated ethics, and unknown personal agendas ignored or paved over; a hero's journey to understanding, fueled by ego and the need to sell a book.
Afghanistan Picture Show is sort of the opposite, lifting the veil from that type of book to look as something deeper, becoming more useful and powerful as a result. Vollmann homes in on all the embarrassments and errors he made and uses them to explore what motivated him to travel across the world to "help the Afghans" and how wrong his assumptions were about the kind of help he could provide and the kind of help they wanted. He also looks at the complicated moral calculus behind aid - why are we providing aid to some and not to others (on a personal and larger level) and what is the right way to provide it? This is Vollmann's first book, so you won't get the masterful writing of his Seven Dreams series (except maybe a short chapter on hiking in Alaska, which is beautiful)- but you do get the thoughtful self-questioning and curiosity inherent in all of his work.
What's so great about this book, though, is how he honestly explores his cluelessness and his failure. This story rings true in a way that most traveling journalism books don't. There's a whole genre of guys dropping into a troubled country for a few weeks or months to get the lay of the land and then making grand sweeping pronouncements about local culture & character and What the World Must Do Right Now. I always get the feeling that these books are nonsense - heroic journalists risking danger/hardship, making deep connections, coming to hard-won (or easily-won!) epiphanies, to uncover the true lay of the land and its people - with much of the horrible misunderstandings, insults, complicated ethics, and unknown personal agendas ignored or paved over; a hero's journey to understanding, fueled by ego and the need to sell a book.
Afghanistan Picture Show is sort of the opposite, lifting the veil from that type of book to look as something deeper, becoming more useful and powerful as a result. Vollmann homes in on all the embarrassments and errors he made and uses them to explore what motivated him to travel across the world to "help the Afghans" and how wrong his assumptions were about the kind of help he could provide and the kind of help they wanted. He also looks at the complicated moral calculus behind aid - why are we providing aid to some and not to others (on a personal and larger level) and what is the right way to provide it? This is Vollmann's first book, so you won't get the masterful writing of his Seven Dreams series (except maybe a short chapter on hiking in Alaska, which is beautiful)- but you do get the thoughtful self-questioning and curiosity inherent in all of his work.
March 20, 2008
this book hit my own King Arthur complex with an ff-ing sledgehammer!
March 16, 2022
I think the thing that really distinguishes this book from any other war biopic is Vollmann's excruciating honesty in self-examination. He essentially confronts how, despite our best intentions - our desires to be altruistic, our desires to help - in situations of crisis, this desire is often one that cannot be sated due to the steep wall of 'practicality' that needs to be climbed in order to achieve anything to begin with.
Alongside Vollmann's narrative candour, the book is also distinguished by its literary experimentation in a traditionally, almost exclusively un-experimental subgenre of non-fiction. Of particular note were the Alaska and The Red Hill sections of the book, where some of Vollmann's incredible talents in metaphor (later seen more strongly in Europe Central) are put on full display - with incredibly evocative contrasts between idyllic scenes from Vollmann's past against the harsh (and for him unexpected) reality of life in war-torn Afghanistan.
At the same time I appreciated the honesty and sections of shining inventiveness, I found some of the more factual elements of the novel somewhat tacked-on - with interviews explaining the background of the conflict feeling dumped without a great deal of narrative incorporation. The result was that the novel, at times, felt somewhat directionally confused between an accurate, 100% literal retelling of the Afghanistan conflict and an excavation of the author's soul. Given Vollmann's overall enterprise, I would have preferred he committed whole-heartedly to the latter.
I've seen a lot of criticism around Vollmann's naivety going into the situation, and while, granted, it's pretty hard to argue against the narrator's naivety, I would argue that Vollmann's overall ineptness in fact serves a deeper purpose. His decision to insert himself into the narrative, and his subsequent honesty regarding his discomfort/feelings of privilege, is one of bravery - although more in the exposing-the-facets-of-how-the-reader-would-actually-operate-in-that-situation kind of way rather than anything overly pragmatic. Moreover, Vollmann sees his own transparency, warts and all, as part of a greater contract: his honesty is small recompense for the generosity and openness of the people he is documenting.
With this insertion comes no opportunity for objectivity. Vollmann, as narrator, is thrust into this world and forced to be an active participant, and as much as he rallies to be the all-seeing, floating spectator, the world in which he inhabits refuses to permit him this luxury.
In any case, Vollmann's practical failure to save the world is offset by his overall spiritual success in mining some deep part of all of us: a part that just wants to help but has no idea how.
Alongside Vollmann's narrative candour, the book is also distinguished by its literary experimentation in a traditionally, almost exclusively un-experimental subgenre of non-fiction. Of particular note were the Alaska and The Red Hill sections of the book, where some of Vollmann's incredible talents in metaphor (later seen more strongly in Europe Central) are put on full display - with incredibly evocative contrasts between idyllic scenes from Vollmann's past against the harsh (and for him unexpected) reality of life in war-torn Afghanistan.
At the same time I appreciated the honesty and sections of shining inventiveness, I found some of the more factual elements of the novel somewhat tacked-on - with interviews explaining the background of the conflict feeling dumped without a great deal of narrative incorporation. The result was that the novel, at times, felt somewhat directionally confused between an accurate, 100% literal retelling of the Afghanistan conflict and an excavation of the author's soul. Given Vollmann's overall enterprise, I would have preferred he committed whole-heartedly to the latter.
I've seen a lot of criticism around Vollmann's naivety going into the situation, and while, granted, it's pretty hard to argue against the narrator's naivety, I would argue that Vollmann's overall ineptness in fact serves a deeper purpose. His decision to insert himself into the narrative, and his subsequent honesty regarding his discomfort/feelings of privilege, is one of bravery - although more in the exposing-the-facets-of-how-the-reader-would-actually-operate-in-that-situation kind of way rather than anything overly pragmatic. Moreover, Vollmann sees his own transparency, warts and all, as part of a greater contract: his honesty is small recompense for the generosity and openness of the people he is documenting.
With this insertion comes no opportunity for objectivity. Vollmann, as narrator, is thrust into this world and forced to be an active participant, and as much as he rallies to be the all-seeing, floating spectator, the world in which he inhabits refuses to permit him this luxury.
In any case, Vollmann's practical failure to save the world is offset by his overall spiritual success in mining some deep part of all of us: a part that just wants to help but has no idea how.
June 12, 2023
I know a major point of the book is supposed to be examining the naivety (and stupidity) of the author at that time for taking such a trip, but I couldn't shake the feeling when reading that it was all too full of typical American smarminess and arrogance. While I am not supportive of the Soviet invasion, Vollmann paints a one-sided portrait of Afghan society; he also- even to this day- completely fails to see what a communist society (with all of its flaws) could offer to the masses of the poor and the women of Afghanistan. Indeed: the improvement of the lives of women in society, and the establishment of more equitable gender relations was one of the main points of focus for the Soviets. However, Vollmann doesn't bother to see this- to him, the USSR represents an almost cartoonish form of evil, even in the modern day. Also not included is the (even at the time) known interference of the CIA in the affairs of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and their numerous attempts at fomenting insurrection against the communists. It seems pretty inexcusable to not include at least a discussion about the actions of the CIA in supporting the mujahideen, considering he says he wants to paint a "fair portrait" at the end.
I at least got some enjoyment out of the book, only by reading how Vollmann doesn't end up doing anything once he gets to Pakistan and Afghanistan anyways except shitting his pants on the daily. Mr. Ghulam in the book gets it right: "The situation in Afghanistan came about because of America's false politics... if American and Russia had not interfered, the Afghans would be living in their homes! And now you seek to solve their problems by extending your pleasure tour inside!"
I at least got some enjoyment out of the book, only by reading how Vollmann doesn't end up doing anything once he gets to Pakistan and Afghanistan anyways except shitting his pants on the daily. Mr. Ghulam in the book gets it right: "The situation in Afghanistan came about because of America's false politics... if American and Russia had not interfered, the Afghans would be living in their homes! And now you seek to solve their problems by extending your pleasure tour inside!"
September 8, 2017
Well this book has certainly become topical once again given recent redeployments. BUT:
Is this as good as the Vollmann you have come to love in his novels and more recent non-fiction? NO.
Is it worth reading for the comical fact that only about 70 pages of a book with Afghanistan in the title take place in Afghanistan? YES.
Should it be your first voyage into Vollmann's work? DEPENDS—A lot of the themes here are also elsewhere, though here they are in their infancy; it does illuminate his intent, that he is trying to do good and to understand, which hasn't changed since this book. This would be a weird place to start with Bill's enormous output, but I'd say judge it for yourself based on your reaction to this snippet from his new introduction to the 2013 Melville House edition (if you feel for this perspective, you will feel for this book; however, if you find yourself too filled with the desire for swift and sanguine vengeance still, even as Bin Laden's remains are by now surely sodden rotten and devoured by fishes— then you probably will NOT feel for this book and its desire for some kind of however unsatisfied sense of understanding):
Please let me tell you the obvious about Afghanistan: Every child and grandmother we kill makes us new enemies. We will never "win" over there.
I used to say that I hoped to see the September eleventh plotters all hunted down and killed. Now I am ashamed of having thought so. Osama bin Laden should have been put on trial instead of being gunned down. From what little I have read, he was wounded and helpless and they kept pumping lead into him. I would have liked to hear him explain why he did what he did.
Is this as good as the Vollmann you have come to love in his novels and more recent non-fiction? NO.
Is it worth reading for the comical fact that only about 70 pages of a book with Afghanistan in the title take place in Afghanistan? YES.
Should it be your first voyage into Vollmann's work? DEPENDS—A lot of the themes here are also elsewhere, though here they are in their infancy; it does illuminate his intent, that he is trying to do good and to understand, which hasn't changed since this book. This would be a weird place to start with Bill's enormous output, but I'd say judge it for yourself based on your reaction to this snippet from his new introduction to the 2013 Melville House edition (if you feel for this perspective, you will feel for this book; however, if you find yourself too filled with the desire for swift and sanguine vengeance still, even as Bin Laden's remains are by now surely sodden rotten and devoured by fishes— then you probably will NOT feel for this book and its desire for some kind of however unsatisfied sense of understanding):
Please let me tell you the obvious about Afghanistan: Every child and grandmother we kill makes us new enemies. We will never "win" over there.
I used to say that I hoped to see the September eleventh plotters all hunted down and killed. Now I am ashamed of having thought so. Osama bin Laden should have been put on trial instead of being gunned down. From what little I have read, he was wounded and helpless and they kept pumping lead into him. I would have liked to hear him explain why he did what he did.
April 14, 2025
I struggled with The Lucky Star last year and wanted to try one Vollmann nonfiction and one additional fiction:
Picture Show is a glorious mess that shows just how unique and un-editable Vollmann is - he's just going to be unapologetically difficult. It seems impossible for a random white American dude to walk out into Afghanistan in 1982 and *not* come back with a readable story to tell...but here we are. After fifty pages of Wittgenstein quotes, interview excerpts, insisting on calling himself "The Young Man," and random discursions, there just might be something going on - and Picture Show continues from there in the same light.
Vollmann is defiantly not gonzo, and he's not going to fall into any semblance of exoticism or white savior mode, but he's also very borderline unreadable. He's going his own way, editors and readers be damned, and either you're with him or you're not. I wasn't.
Picture Show is a glorious mess that shows just how unique and un-editable Vollmann is - he's just going to be unapologetically difficult. It seems impossible for a random white American dude to walk out into Afghanistan in 1982 and *not* come back with a readable story to tell...but here we are. After fifty pages of Wittgenstein quotes, interview excerpts, insisting on calling himself "The Young Man," and random discursions, there just might be something going on - and Picture Show continues from there in the same light.
Vollmann is defiantly not gonzo, and he's not going to fall into any semblance of exoticism or white savior mode, but he's also very borderline unreadable. He's going his own way, editors and readers be damned, and either you're with him or you're not. I wasn't.
June 20, 2019
This is the first work of William T. Vollmann I've read, and I am really glad I started with this one. If his other books are any similar I will enjoy reading them quite a lot. Vollmann's writing is funny even when he's serious, but not in a comical way, witty and captivating, making it hard to put away once you start reading.
Yes, this book is about Afghanistan in the 1980s. Somehow. More than that, it is about the young protagonist - Vollmann himself - who travels to Pakistan and Afghanistan to help fighting the Soviets, and about the experience he's made on that trip and the hard clash of ideals and reality. Definitely worth reading!
Yes, this book is about Afghanistan in the 1980s. Somehow. More than that, it is about the young protagonist - Vollmann himself - who travels to Pakistan and Afghanistan to help fighting the Soviets, and about the experience he's made on that trip and the hard clash of ideals and reality. Definitely worth reading!
April 5, 2019
This reminded me quite a bit of Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia” with which it shares a number of similarities, though the Orwell book was the better of the two. Nonetheless, Vollmann’s presence and account of his time spent in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Russian invasion, in spite of the youthful naïveté he fully acknowledges, is worthy in itself. The prose is often vivid and insightful.
September 7, 2025
Difficult read. Vollman's reflections on the situation in Afghanistan and his time with the Mujahideen, while insightful, were too disorganized for me. If you are looking for a book that describes the political situation inside and outside of Afghanistan during the 79-89 Soviet-Afghan war, this is probably not the best read. I may come back to this in the future to try and reread.
August 21, 2023
Riepilogo di un viaggio sconclusionato compiuto dall'autore in Afghanistan negli anni 80. Il maggior pregio é che l'autore stesso é cosciente di quanto fosse stato imbarazzante e non tralascia dettagli.
August 4, 2024
An interesting and uncomfortable memoir. The narrator exists both in the past and the present, and this book is as much about the transformation from naive youth to wise-but-jaded adult as it is about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Very interesting memoir.
September 14, 2024
Interesting look at a war that most Americans know nothing about, and at the narcissistic optimism and hope of a young William T. Vollmann. Nothing life changing, but it's a unique piece of non-fiction.
February 12, 2020
Thought it would be more disturbing, but gave a lot of insight in circumstances during war.
I look forward to reading more of Vollmann's books.
I look forward to reading more of Vollmann's books.
August 26, 2020
Un vampiro che succhia tutto
tranne il sangue.
tranne il sangue.
December 25, 2021
Hey Siri, how much are tickets to Kabul?
September 15, 2022
Uno scrittore che merita di essere conosciuto.
April 18, 2024
funny and wild. you end up learning about the region and it's history, but only in the end.
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