The Old Army Game: A Novel and Stories

by George Garrett, George Core (Introduction)

STATED FIRST EDITION. 1994 Southern Methodist University Press trade paperback, George Garrett. This volume pairs Garrett's novel Which Ones Are the Enemy? with nine other stories of military life, including two previously uncollected works, Crowfoot and Heroes. Which Ones Are the Enemy? (first published in 1961) charts the transformation of Pvt. John Riche, an artilleryman attached to the Trieste United States Troops after the Korean War, from philandering to commitment. A cynic and an operator who diverts U.S. supplies into the European black market to finance an apartment for his mistress, Riche plans to love then leave Angela, the beautiful B-girl who had at first scorned him. As the novel progresses, the two unlikely lovers come to care for each other, and Riche's lucrative but dangerous schemes entrap them, setting up an inexorable chain of bitter events. The second part of this volume consists of stories stemming from Garrett's service experiences in Europe at the end of the Korean War, though the particular characters and situations reflect the pain, bewilderment, and loss common to all wars. - Google Books

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

(For the British short story writer, playwright, and political activist see George Garrett)

George Palmer Garrett was an American poet and novelist. He was the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. His novels include The Finished Man, Double Vision, and the Elizabethan Trilogy, composed of Death of the Fox, The Succession, and Entered from the Sun. He worked as a book reviewer and screenwriter, and taught at Cambridge University and, for many years, at the University of Virginia. He is the subject of critical books by R. H. W. Dillard, Casey Clabough, and Irving Malin.