I've long considered Kurt Vonnegut as one of my favorite authors, but I've recently become completely obsessed with him. Cat's Cradle is sheer genius, one of the funniest, sharpest satires ever written, and I'm currently enmeshed in Slaughterhouse-Five, which I picked up at the bookstore last night. (I know, I know--I'm always late to the party.) But I can't explain it. All I know is that I've been in a reading slump lately, struggling through the final one hundred pages of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and eyeing the last half of John Steinbeck's East of Eden with equal parts exasperation and fury--exasperation because I don't really want to read it, and fury because I know I won't be able to leave it unfinished.
But Vonnegut--he's exactly what I've needed these days, someone who can point out the fallacies of modern society while simulaneously giving a big, shit-eating, postmodern grin: "Oh well." He's my kind of satirist: his humor is black as pitch and completely ridiculous. (Billy Pilgrim's abduction by Tralfamadorians, where he was "displayed naked in a zoo," gave me a few much-needed chuckles.) He's funny in the way a swift kick to the balls is funny. Considering how bleak the daily news has been recently, and with no relief in sight, I've come to realize just how much I miss him.
MMMmmmmm Vonnegut. One of the best ever. Period. So it goes!
Have you tried his autobiographies, Palm Sunday and Fates Worse than Death? Bleak but still stupendous and glorious stuff.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | July 17, 2008 at 04:03 PM
You're quicker than me with Vonnegut, as I still haven't gotten around to reading him! Though I suspect that is about to change after reading your post, as I'm quite the fan of a good black satire. Your description of his writing reminded me a lot of Evelyn Waugh, especially Decline and Fall and Black Mischief.
Posted by: cas | July 19, 2008 at 08:24 AM
You're quicker than me with Vonnegut, as I still haven't gotten around to reading him! Though I suspect that is about to change after reading your post, as I'm quite the fan of a good black satire. Your description of his writing reminded me a lot of Evelyn Waugh, especially Decline and Fall and Black Mischief.
Posted by: cas | July 19, 2008 at 08:25 AM
You're quicker than me with Vonnegut, as I still haven't gotten around to reading him! Though I suspect that is about to change after reading your post, as I'm quite the fan of a good black satire. Your description of his writing reminded me a lot of Evelyn Waugh, especially Decline and Fall and Black Mischief.
Posted by: cas | July 19, 2008 at 08:25 AM
Sarah: I haven't read any of his autobiographies yet, but you had me at "bleak." Too bad he passed. So it goes ...
Cas: Haven't yet read Waugh. (How's this for ignorance: it wasn't until recently that I realized that Waugh is a man.) I like that Vonnegut is bleak, but he doesn't spit bile. It's like he punches you in the gut, then pats you on the shoulder, offers you a smoke, and says, "Hey, buddy, it's okay, I'm human, just like you." He's a master of satire; once you read him, you'll see how much he influenced "The Simpsons" (one of my favorite shows, incidentally). "Cat's Cradle" had me rolling on the ground.
Posted by: Brandon | July 19, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Ha,
I love the image of KV passing me a smoke. I wish a. he was still here to give me one, and b. I had a cigarette RIGHT NOW. So it goes.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | July 20, 2008 at 01:53 PM
I'd let you bum one from me. Lesson learned: always keep a pack of smokes on hand, just in case. At the very least, you could have one cigarette and a lighter in a glass case with a little hammer: "Break only in the event of imminent death." So it goes.
Posted by: Brandon | July 20, 2008 at 06:21 PM
Ah, well don't feel to bad Brandon. I just got around to reading "Slaughterhouse-Five" this year (my first Vonnegut book) and for the life of me I can't figure out why it took me so long. I'm in the middle of reading his "Armageddon in Retrospect," but I'm finding these unpublished stories not nearly so enjoyable. So far, the best thing about the book has been a reprinting of a letter Vonnegut sent home to his family while he was captured in Dresden. For such a short thing, it reads almost better than "Slaughterhouse-Five."
Anyway, I'm looking forward to finishing it so that I can move on to "Breakfast for Champions" which I doubt will disappoint.
Posted by: J.S, Peyton | July 21, 2008 at 03:37 PM
I need to re-read me some Vonnegut. It's been 20 years and I wonder if what I 'got' from him when I was in H.S., I would appreciate even more now.
Posted by: Care | July 23, 2008 at 08:38 AM