Exploring Interviewing in “The Pain Of 'Perfectly Normal': A Vietnam Vet's Long-Silent Torment” Podcast by NPR

             In “The Pain Of 'Perfectly Normal': A Vietnam Vet's Long-Silent Torment” podcast on NPR’s Storycorps podcast section, a clip of Barbara Lau interviewing her husband, former Vietnam soldier Hartmut Lau, is played in honor of Veteran’s Day.

Before interviewing her husband, Barbara did not know anything about what happened to him during his time in Vietnam. She did not need to ask questions, but rather gently nudge him into telling his story about a specific memory of the war, commenting when appropriate and allowing Hartmut to get all of his words in the open.

Though Barbara did not need to question her husband to bring his horrible memories of combat to light, she prompted him into speaking of them by stating that although he has told her about West Point, he has never told her anything about Vietnam. When Hartmut pauses in his story, Barbara comments kindly, as though just in a conversation, to urge him forward in providing details.

The interviewer, Barbara, did not seem to have a strategy. She simply seems to be there to help relieve her husband of his memories in Vietnam by getting him to tell the tale and offering a listening ear.

In the beginning of the interview, Hartmut seemed closed off and evasive of providing details. Barbara handles this by telling her husband that he spoke as though he was explaining something that happened to somebody else, but he was there. After this gentle prod, her husband opens up to the painful details of his experiences in combat.

The relationship between interviewer and interviewee in this podcast was evidently a close and loving one, seeing as they are husband and wife. This arrangement was clever in NPR’s part, for it was obvious that it helped for Hartmut to be able to share his entire story with his wife rather than a random interviewer.

I learned from this interview that when interviewing, one must be a good listener when the interviewee is talking, for sometimes they will pause before getting the strength to go on or to collect their thoughts. I also discovered the importance of pushing the interviewee to go on by using short, simple words, as though participating in a conversation.