Words From A Great Writer*
Listen:
This is the opening to a book by a true genius called Kurt Vonnegut, entitled ‘Cat’s Cradle’ (I bought this book yesterday for $2.00 in a Salvation Army opportunity shop):
‘Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.
Jonah – John – if I had been a Sam, I would have been a Jonah still – not because I have been unlucky for others, but because somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places at certain times, without fail. Conveyances and motives, both conventional and bizarre, have been provided. And, according to plan, at each appointed second, at each appointed place this Jonah was there.
Listen:
When I was a younger man – two wives ago, 250,000 cigarettes ago, 3,000 quarts of booze ago …
When I was a much younger man, I began to collect material for a book to be called ‘The Day the World Ended’.
The book was to be factual.
The book was to be an account of what important Americans had done on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.’
Can’t wait to read this book!!!
(*And Also From Kurt Vonnegut. Ahem.)
This is the opening to a book by a true genius called Kurt Vonnegut, entitled ‘Cat’s Cradle’ (I bought this book yesterday for $2.00 in a Salvation Army opportunity shop):
‘Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.
Jonah – John – if I had been a Sam, I would have been a Jonah still – not because I have been unlucky for others, but because somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places at certain times, without fail. Conveyances and motives, both conventional and bizarre, have been provided. And, according to plan, at each appointed second, at each appointed place this Jonah was there.
Listen:
When I was a younger man – two wives ago, 250,000 cigarettes ago, 3,000 quarts of booze ago …
When I was a much younger man, I began to collect material for a book to be called ‘The Day the World Ended’.
The book was to be factual.
The book was to be an account of what important Americans had done on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.’
Can’t wait to read this book!!!
(*And Also From Kurt Vonnegut. Ahem.)
posted by S. Gregory | 1:19 am
2 Comments:
I don't know there is a lot of potential in those paragraphs for this book to be about the relentless, hopeless, despair of being human or of life in general. I love Kurt’s writing it is funny and insightful but often to depressing for me to want to read.
The best depressing writer by far is Voltaire - anyone who attacks optimism so skillfully and in such a fun way is the most delightful and festive of depressing literature!
Rups
I haven't read any of this Kurt chap ... one day ... as soon as I swallow the next read which I'm thinking is Mr Whitman if I am not mistaken.
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