When I was 11 years old, I was one of those kids who was labeled as 'gifted' and placed in a special program once a week at a different school, where we had a lot of fun, but I don't think I really learned all that much. Seemed to be that the biggest perk was having the fun, and not having to deal with the drudgery of regular schoolwork. (I missed an entire year's worth of 'music' with the worst music teacher in the world thanks to this.) In the seventh and eight grades, they started having us do independent study, and gave us theme options to loosely corral us into some semblance of discipline. One term, on a whim, I chose Science Fiction - this would have been shortly after Return of the Jedi, but long before Star Trek Next Generation, so my exposure was somewhat limited. To get us inspired, they presented us with a shelf of books, and not sure what I was looking for, I pulled this one out:
I admit, I was likely captivated by the lithe female forms garcing the cover - I would have been 12 or 13 at the time after all - but got sucked into this incredible universe, that likely forever polluted my concept of what sci-fi actually was. (I certainly don't remember much else from that particular class.) But what I took from him, and what kept taking, the more Vonnegut I read, was the overwhelming sense of humanity in his writing, the depth of feeling, and moral outrage at the shitty shitty things that man is capable of doing to man. I haven't read much writing since Timequake, and haven't honestly read any of my copies of his works in a few years, but I am certain to return to him now. Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions are easy and obvious favorites, but I may start with Bluebeard, a favorite for the ballsy reveal at the end that bests the title, but also for its sense of hope and optimism; in a sense, redemption for the despair of the current state of things. I think he was far more optimistic than people give him credit for.
People - at least people in movies - like to say that the dead have gone to a better place; I would prefer to think that Kurt Vonnegut has become unstuck in time, and is currently spending time on Tralfamador with Billy Pilgrim and Unk and Kilgore Trout, and that he'll be back.
1 comment:
Yes, very sad. Mr Vonnegut is in heaven now. I know he would appreciate that joke as he used it at a funeral for a friend of his. Another athiest. I read his “A Man Without a Country” a month or so ago and just finished “Breakfast of Champions” yesterday. I find it’s good to read him at least once a year.
So it goes.
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