KURT VONNEGUT had a great talent for writing novels that portrayed a chaotic world and confused characters who were kept from destruction only by a certain fundamental decency in the human spirit.
His books, which mixed humor and pathos, appealed to the rising generation of the 1960s and ’70s, who saw chaos in the world around them and sensed within themselves such a saving decency. To these readers, Vonnegut’s books were not only entertaining, but also truthful and instructive. His words helped to make sense out of times that often seemed to make no sense at all.
To these disciples, Vonnegut was more than a writer. He was a benevolent, if disreputable, uncle who understood and shared their anguish. At times, he seemed to be a man driven mad by his clear vision of the uncomfortable truth.
As his readers grew older, they carried Vonnegut along with them and heaped him with honors. As he was dragged along through the decades, the iconoclastic novelist was transformed into a literary institution, always in danger of being put out to pasture to doze in the sun with the other literary lions.
But he would not doze. He kept having ideas — good and bad — and writing books, essays and plays — good and bad.
A few weeks ago, he fell down and scrambled his admirable brain. On Wednesday, he died.
To borrow his phrase of sorrow and acceptance, “So it goes.”
In an obituary, fellow novelist Norman Mailer compared Vonnegut to Mark Twain. Not a bad comparison. Twain and Vonnegut shared a dark view of life and recognized both the best and worst in human nature.
And certainly Twain would have liked this passage from “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine”:
Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — “God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
Kurt Vonnegut’s books are still worth reading.
Phil_Dillon (anonymous) says...
My particular favorite is "Cat's Cradle."
Phil Dillon
April 14, 2007 at 7:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CAFEmporia (anonymous) says...
My favorite was "Sirens of Titan". The phrase, "I won't truth you if you won't truth me," should be used more often today.
Of course, "Breakfast of Champions", which he wrote for his 50th birthday present to himself probably stands on its own as a definitive work of the 20th century.
I'm really going to miss Vonnegut. After his '05 book, I continued to believe he would write just one more. Now I know he won't and I feel a little the less for it.
Craig French
April 15, 2007 at 5:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )