Gustav Hasford’s Followers (47)

Gustav Hasford

Born

in Russellville, Alabama, The United States

November 28, 1947

Died

January 29, 1993

Website

http://www.gustavhasford.com/

Genre

Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction

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Jerry Gustave Hasford (November 28, 1947 – January 29, 1993), also known under his pen name Gustav Hasford was the author of two major novels of the Vietnam war, The Short Timers and The Phantom Blooper, as well as a third book, A Gypsy Good Time. At the time of his death in 1993, he was perhaps best known for a screenwriting credit he shared with filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and author Michael Herr for the film Full Metal Jacket (1987), a screen adaptation of The Short Timers. The film is regarded as being one of the greatest depictions of the Vietnam war.
Hasford was born in Haleyville, Winston County, on November 28, 1947, to Hassell and Hazel Hasford; he had one younger brother, Terry. Hasford's cousin, Jasper native Jason Aaron, is an awar Jerry Gustave Hasford (November 28, 1947 – January 29, 1993), also known under his pen name Gustav Hasford was the author of two major novels of the Vietnam war, The Short Timers and The Phantom Blooper, as well as a third book, A Gypsy Good Time. At the time of his death in 1993, he was perhaps best known for a screenwriting credit he shared with filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and author Michael Herr for the film Full Metal Jacket (1987), a screen adaptation of The Short Timers. The film is regarded as being one of the greatest depictions of the Vietnam war.
Hasford was born in Haleyville, Winston County, on November 28, 1947, to Hassell and Hazel Hasford; he had one younger brother, Terry. Hasford's cousin, Jasper native Jason Aaron, is an award-winning comic book writer. After leaving high school
Gustav Hasford in Vietnam
in Russellville, Franklin County, in 1966, and refusing to take his graduation exams in protest over the state's poor education system, Hasford joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Vietnam as a combat correspondent with the First Marine Division. Upon his return from Vietnam, he moved with his parents to Washington State and attended Lower Columbia Community College, where he published his first story, which would later serve as the basis for The Short Timers, in the school newspaper.
The Short Timers was published in 1979, The Phantom Blooper in 1990, and A Gypsy Good Time in 1992. The Short Timers follows the story of Private Joker, a character supposedly based on Hasford himself, from basic training through the
Gustav Hasford Receives Navy Medal
Tet offensive in Vietnam. The Phantom Blooper once again features Joker as he comes to terms with the death of many of his friends and his own survival, through his time as a POW, and to his return to the United States. A Gypsy Good Time is a departure, best characterized as a parody of the hard-boiled detective novel genre.
Hasford came into conflict with director Stanley Kubrick over writing credits for the screenplay of Full Metal Jacket, which is based on The Short Timers. The financial bonanza that
Gustav Hasford, ca. 1979
Hasford expected from that film never materialized. Hasford also gained significant notoriety as a literary eccentric, described in newspaper stories as having secreted himself illegally with a "research" hoard of more than 700 books from libraries in the United States and Great Britain, some of them 12 years overdue. Hasford was arrested in 1988 on a charge of possessing stolen property; a San Luis Obispo, California, judge sentenced him to six months in the local jail.
Hasford was active in anti-war veterans' activities. At the time of his death at age 45 from untreated diabetes on January 29, 1993, Hasford was residing alone in Greece. He is buried in Winston Memorial Cemetery in Haleyville.

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Gustav Hasford’s books

Average rating: 4.18 · 2,544 ratings · 272 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Short-Timers 4.22 avg rating — 2,179 ratings — published 1979 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Phantom Blooper 4.09 avg rating — 249 ratings — published 1990 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	غلاف تمام فلزی by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford 3.70 avg rating — 142 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Gypsy Good Time 3.79 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1992 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Orbit 16 by Damon Knight (editor), Joan D. Vinge, R.A. Lafferty really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1975 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Hours in Vietnam: Surviving the Brutal Reality of War in 1968 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Gustav Hasford (?)

“Guns tell the truth. Guns never say, "I'm only kidding." War is ugly because the truth can be ugly and war is very sincere.”
― Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers

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“Just watch me. Do what I do. These guys will tell you that I am a monster, but I'm the only grunt in this squad that doesn't have his head up his ass. In this world of shit, monsters live forever and everybody else dies. If you kill for fun, you're a sadist. If you kill for money, you're a mercenary. If you kill for both, you're a Marine.”
― Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers

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“I tell the squad a joke: "Stop me if you're heard this. There was a Marine of nuts and bolts, half robot--weird but true--whose every move was cut from pain as though from stone. His stoney little hide had been crushed and broken. But he just laughed and said, 'I've been crushed and broken before.' And sure enough, he had the heart of a bear. His heart functioned for weeks after it had been diagnosed by doctors. His heart weighed half a pound. His heart pumped seven hundred thousand gallons of warm blood through one hundred thousand miles of veins, working hard--hard enough in twelve hours to lift one sixty-five ton boxcar one foot off the deck. He said. The world would not waste the heart of a bear, he said. On his clean blue pajamas many medals hung. He was a walking word of history, in the shop for a few repairs. He took it on the chin and was good. One night in Japan his life came out of his body--black--like a question mark. If you can keep your head while others are losing theirs perhaps you have misjudged the situation. Stop me if you've heard this...”
― Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers

tags: death, existentialism, joke, vietnam-war

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Vietnam in Litera...: I recommend Gustav Hasford's book series and the movie based on the first of the books, "Full Metal Jacket" (1987)	1	7	Jan 26, 2022 03:44PM

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