"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!"~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 1922-2007
You may have noticed I've been away for a few days. And I promise I'll get back to my normal subject matter tomorrow, but for now I would like to take a moment of silence to remember the late great Kurt Vonnegut Jr., who helped keep me sane through my high school years and beyond. Vonnegut, as you surely know by now, died April 11 at the age of 84.
At one point during one of the customary lively discussions on Steve Salerno's SHAMblog, Steve lamented, " "We don't even have Kurt Vonnegut to turn to, anymore, to sort it all out for us."
To which my own RevRon replied: "Speak for yourself, oh curmudgeonly one! I, for one, shall always have my ideas, my badges, with which to identify myself among both friend and foe. And those homicidal beggars shall ever ride, even though their exploits shall only be heralded in the pages of wide-open beaver magazines. Kilgore lives! And I see England; I see France..."
I couldn't have written a more touching tribute myself.
And that's pretty much all I have to say, except to urge you, if you've not done so already, to avail yourself of Vonnegut's works. You'll be glad you did. And if you don't have time to read a book right now, at least take in a few Kurtly quotations.
Today's illustration, by the way, is not a portrait of Rhonda Byrne* but is, instead, a reproduction of a drawing of Vonnegut's that appeared in Breakfast Of Champions. That remains one of my favorite of Vonnegut's novels, and I've read them all. For me, though, the one that still stands out as his finest was Mother Night.
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."
Words to live by.
* Okay, sorry. That was a cheap shot, even for me.
11 comments:
Can you believe I haven't read any of his books? After reading the quotes (thanks for the link!), I know I'll love his books. Wow. What an incredible mind.
By the way, he still may be here because there's no "end date" on his quotations page.
Lana, despite the title of my post, Kurt will always be with us, as far as I am concerned! :-)
Great post and good work on the site. Very entertaining. Look forward to reading future posts.
Thanks, Chris. I hope you'll keep coming back!
Why are you friends with misogynistic assholes?
To whom would you be referring, Anon? Am I missing something?
Conniue, I found this link to an article about the secret on Salerno's blog. Thought you'd like it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601819_2.html
...Or, Anon, would you be referring to the picture of the a**hole accompanying this post? If so, what makes you think it is misogynistic? I am truly puzzled...
Hi, Moi! Yes, I had seen that article. And it's a very good one. Thanks!
I just got round to reading Slaughterhouse 5. As I was reading, it seemed like such a fantastical and far off tale full of experiences beyond comprehension. Then I looked up at the building opposite, which took a direct hit from the luftwaffe in the war, killing all the people sheltering in the cellar. Some say they are still there. So it goes.
Kilgore Trout was modeled on Theodore Sturgeon, whose stories you really should read.
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