So It Goes...
My favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut has died. So it goes. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.htmlI'm a sad panda over this. Vonnegut has been my favorite author ever since I had to do an HS project about an author. I picked him because I was interested in reading Slaughterhouse Five, and it provided an excuse to do so. I started by reading Player Piano, and although I didn't like the book, I do have positive memories associated with it because my most favorite picture of myself was taken while I was reading it. The pic eventually wound up on its own page in my HS yearbook. I took a long time to read that book because I didn't like it, but I read all of the other books I needed for the report in about 2 days each because I really liked them
The themes in his books speak to me. He was very good at pointing out the bullshit. From Slaughterhouse Five:
"The flaw in the Christ stories...was that Christ, who didn't look like much, was actually the son of the most powerful being in the universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought...: Oh, boy - they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time! And that thought had a brother: "there are right people to lynch." Who? People not well connected. So it goes. The visitor from outer space made a gift to earth of a new gospel. In it, Jesus really was a nobody, and a pain in the neck to a lot of people with better connections than he had. He still got to say all the lovely and puzzling things he said in the other gospels. So the people amused themselves one day by nailing him to a cross and planting the cross in the ground. There couln't possibly be any repercussions, the lynchers thought. The reader would have to think that too since the gospel hammered home again and again what a nobody Jesus was. And then, just before the nobody died, the heavens opened up, and there was thunder and lightning. The voice of God came crashing down. He told the world that he was adopting the bum as his son, giving him the full powers and privileges of the son of the creator of the universe throughout all eternity. God said this: from this moment on he will punish anybody who torments a bum who has no connections!"
If you've never read Vonnegut, I'd recommend least Sci-Fi books, Bluebeard. It's a good read for someone that doesn't think they will enjoy anything with Sci-Fi type themes.
I might as well show the pic...
So It goes...
posted by SumThing @ 9:51 PM
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