Literature Library author

Tim O’Brien

A concise guide to Tim O'Brien's body of work, major titles, and recurring themes.

AP-referenced author
Languages
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Regions / countries
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Forms
Literary work, Novel, War novel
Indexed works
3

Author overview

Tim O'Brien (born 1946) is a novelist whose body of work spans literary writing, novels, and war novel. This writing is associated with United States. Major works and useful reading starting points include Going After Cacciato, In the Lake of the Woods, and The Things They Carried. Key themes include Imagination can rehearse freedom, Courage is not the absence of fear, Duty can conflict with moral judgment, and War stories mix fact, memory, and desire.

Reading pathway

Begin with Going After Cacciato, then move to In the Lake of the Woods, then move to The Things They Carried.

Representative starting points

Going After Cacciato

A frightened young soldier on night watch imagines his squad chasing a deserter from Vietnam to Paris, using fantasy to test whether escape, courage, and moral choice are possible.

In the Lake of the Woods

After a politician's buried war record destroys his campaign and his wife disappears, an unfinished investigation asks whether evidence can reveal a life built around secrecy, performance, and the wish to make history vanish.

All published guides by this author

Biography, authority, and bibliography sources

This independent author guide supports reading and discussion. Curriculum badges show useful AP or IB connections without making this an official AP or IB publication.