LSE Literary Festival: War Stories — How to Bring the Battle to the Book?

London School of Economics, February 13, 2010

Panelists:

• Andrew Muller: Journalist and author, "I Wouldn't Start From Here"
• Roslyn Jones: Journalist and novelist, "Something is Going to Fall Like Rain"
• Stephen Grey: Investigative journalist and author, "Operation Snake Bite"
• Host/Moderator: Charlie Beckett, Director of Polis at LSE

Episode Theme Overview

This Literary Festival panel explores the ways in which writers and journalists attempt to capture and communicate the realities of modern war through books, moving beyond the constraints of daily news reporting. The discussion centers on how narratives of conflict are shaped, the differences between news and long-form storytelling, ethics, the impact of personal involvement, and the limitations of journalistic objectivity in war zones.

Readings and Reflections: Key Insights and Moments

1. Reporting from War Zones: Personal Narratives and Approaches

Andrew Muller's Dispatch from Post-Invasion Baghdad

• Reading from "I Wouldn't Start From Here" ([05:14]–[14:21])

  • Memoir-style, darkly comic recounting of Baghdad in 2003 after the US invasion. Muller paints a scene of chaos, absurdity, and incongruous normality:

    "At night, the family who owned the hotel slept in the lobby with rifles and grenade launchers under their camp beds." [07:00]

  • Observations on optimism and disillusionment among Iraqis:

    "The views of the shopkeepers... could be summarized: the hell with Saddam Hussein. Thank you, America, for removing him. Please fix everything you broke and bugger off." [08:10]

  • Noteworthy moment of bleak humor as reality sets in:

    "All the usual rules of life had been suspended. There were no laws... no police... There wasn't even anyone willing to collect the corpse." [09:45]

  • American soldiers described as lost in surreal circumstances:

    "All over Baghdad, the American soldiers looked as perplexed as people togged up for a fancy dress party and gone to the wrong address." [10:50]

  • Vivid contrast between immediate conflict and remnants of ordinary life, with interplay of absurdity and tragedy.

Roslyn Jones' Fiction Rooted in War Reporting

• Reading from "Something is Going to Fall Like Rain" ([14:21]–[24:56])

  • A novel born from her experiences in southern Sudan, highlighting the unreported 'gaps between the reports.' The excerpt follows a naive trainee doctor, Maria, exiting into the dawn and unwittingly entering a minefield dotted with human remains:

    "There is always hope at dawn, I thought, even in Africa." [16:43]

  • Powerful sensory descriptions evoke place and danger. The passage explores the tension of being an outsider, the arbitrarily lethal environment, and survivor’s guilt:

    "My baby blue beach holiday flip flops mocked me from below the line of my hips, my bare dusty toes emphasizing the childish vulnerability of my predicament." [24:00]

Stephen Grey's Immersive Eyewitness Journalism

• Reading from "Operation Snake Bite" ([25:04]–[34:21])
  • Grey recounts embedding with British troops in Afghanistan, torn between the detachment of the observer and the peril of combat. His narrative opens with a cold, sleepless night of anticipation and unfolds into chaotic firefight:

    "In the blur of combat, there is so much you see so clearly and there is so much that lies hidden, so you have little chance of understanding what is happening around you." [25:18]

  • His personal uncertainty about his ability to react:

    "How would I react if I came under direct fire myself?... I might also find out something about myself." [27:05]

  • The confusion, proximity of death, and ethical dilemmas are outlined:

    "If the enemy could shoot straight, you'd have been dead, someone told me later." [31:40]

Key Discussion Points and Panel Insights

The Value of Book-Length War Writing

How is writing a book about war different from traditional news? ([34:47]–[37:41])

• Roslyn Jones: Expresses that a novel allowed exploration of experiences and characters news reporting could not. Inspired by a boy whose stories were untold:

  "You have a sense that you keep filing these reports, but actually people aren’t really reading them… how can you bring those voices out?" [36:10]

• Therapeutic Value: Writing helps process and cope with traumatic experiences, offering emotional perspective on suffering beyond ‘shock and awe’.

  "Sometimes you want to hear what that's like for the people... shivering on the ground without electricity, who are worried about where they're going to get the next meal." [38:10]

• Andrew Muller: Books offer revenge against news editors—space to include the ‘everything’ that doesn’t fit in journalism. Humor is a defense mechanism, mirroring laughter’s prevalence even in dire contexts:

  "Laughter is a defense mechanism. It's what people do to kind of, I think, block out realities, whether they're immediate ones or existential ones." [41:28]

• Stephen Grey: Reflection and investigation are possible over long form; frontline reporting often becomes entangled with propaganda and psychological operations:

  "It's very difficult... to separate out the fact that information and propaganda are at the heart of the actual battle... you are being regarded as a potential vehicle for propaganda by both sides." [45:00]

The Role and Limits of Technology and Access

([47:00]–[50:46])

• Real-time reporting gives illusion of access but limits depth and can be misleading due to military-imposed restrictions and embedded journalism.

  "We can be seduced by the illusion of access provided by live reports, high quality photos... and forget the fact how limited people's ability to tell the truth is." [47:35]

• Embedded journalism almost always means aligning with one armed group, a practice as old as war reporting itself.

The Personal in War Reporting: Is There a Place for Subjectivity?

([51:01]–[59:42])

• Audience Q: Should war reporting be more personal?

  • Roslyn Jones: Novels can capture local voices otherwise ignored by mainstream reporting. Neutrality is hard to maintain; proximity often leads to identification with suffering civilians.

    "For journalists to say that they're neutral, I think is... a really difficult issue. I've gone to most wars... neutral, and within a few weeks, it's very, very hard not to be at least on the side of the people who are experiencing the bombardment." [57:14]

  • Andrew Muller: First-person narratives provide valuable humility—honestly describing only what was witnessed.

    "There's actually weirdly kind of a humility to that. I'm not pretending to have any greater insights other than this is what happened, this is what I've got." [55:18]

  • Stephen Grey: True neutrality is difficult; stories shaped by who reporters travel with. The importance lies in truthful, multi-layered representation.

The Search for Narrative and Ethics in War Coverage

([65:47]–[78:46])

• Press 'herd mentality' and narrative pressure: Eye-catching symbols (e.g., the statue-toppling in Baghdad) drive media coverage often at the expense of deeper truths.

  "A herd mentality does overtake it... everyone then has to act like it's important. Whereas obviously it actually wasn't in the grand scheme of things, but it was a neat visual symbol." — Andrew Muller [66:26]

• Ethics, research, and guilt: Panelists reflect on the necessity and pitfalls of parachuting in with little preparation, the balancing act between outsider’s perspective and informed coverage, survivor’s guilt, and the potential consequences for the people they write about.

  "The only considerations I have are have I told their story as honestly as I can... is this somebody who's helped me and who figures in my story and have I written their role in it in such a way that isn't going to get them into any trouble?" — Andrew Muller [78:46] "I think you also get an enormous amount of survivor's guilt because you're with people who don't come out of those situations and you do, and that becomes hard to live with." — Roslyn Jones [79:01]

Memorable Quotes (By Timestamp)

• "There's always hope at dawn, I thought, even in Africa."
  — Roslyn Jones [16:43]
• "If the enemy could shoot straight, you'd have been dead, someone told me later."
  — Stephen Grey [31:40]
• "Laughter is a defense mechanism. It's what people do to kind of, I think, block out realities."
  — Andrew Muller [41:28]
• "For journalists to say that they're neutral, I think is... a really difficult issue. I've gone to most wars... neutral, and within a few weeks, it's very, very hard not to be at least on the side of the people who are experiencing the bombardment."
  — Roslyn Jones [57:14]
• "There's actually weirdly kind of a humility to that. I'm not pretending to have any greater insights other than this is what happened, this is what I've got."
  — Andrew Muller [55:18]

Notable Audience Questions and Panel Responses

On whether reporting should be more personal:

• Risk of ego-driven journalism vs. usefulness of the eyewitness account as a 'way in' for readers.

On narrative construction:

• Narratives often shaped by visuals rather than substance; 'herd mentality' prevents meaningful divergence.

On research and ethical responsibility:

• Preparation necessary yet perspective as an outsider valuable; rapid-fire deployments mean reporters are often learning in situ. Survivor’s guilt and concern for impact on locals are real, but honest representation is the guiding ethic.

Concluding Thought

"The world is a mental place with many contrasts." — Roslyn Jones [82:24]

This panel offers a candid, multidimensional look at war writing, showing the struggle to convey messy reality, the humor and horror of conflict, and the constant ethical balancing act as journalists and authors try to do justice both to their subjects and to the complexity of modern warfare. Each panelist, through memoir, fiction, or investigative reporting, demonstrates the power—and the limits—of bringing the battle to the book.