Bookworm
Ben Fountain: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Pushcart and O. Henry Prize-winner Ben Fountain talks about heroes, war, and street language in his new novel.
By Michael Silverblatt • • 28m ListenBilly Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (Ecco)
Celebrated by Fox News, a squad of Iraq war soldiers takes a victory tour to drum up support for the war that includes a Dallas Cowboys football game. Ben Fountain follows his hero, a poorly educated Texas boy, into the wilds of debased American celebrity. We discuss the difficulty of writing a novel composed from multiple kinds of "now" language: hip-hop, press-release-ese, sportscaster talk, black street language, Texan tall-talk.
