Kurt Vonnegut has no country


In his latest book Indianan Kurt Vonnegut laments the loss of the country he fought for in WW2. I can understand his confusion. What is one to do given the madness of the present - his advice is just to help each other get through it. Humour helps quite a bit. VP Cheney shooting the occasional big party donor helps a lot too. But what happens when reality can no longer be lampooned or satirized? Even Vonnegut's fiction may not be enough to help us through these dark days. A good juicy impeachment would raise my spirits considerably.
See John Preston of the Telegraph's interview of Vonnegut. I especially liked his photo and the story of his oration at the funeral of Isaac Asimov:
When Vonnegut says that he has never held an official title, this isn't strictly true: he is the honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having taken over from friend and fellow novelist Isaac Asimov.
"Being a humanist means that you try to behave as decently, as honourably, as you can without any expectation of rewards or punishments in an afterlife. When we had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, I spoke at it and said at one point, 'Isaac is up in heaven now'. It was the funniest thing I could think of to say to an audience of humanists. Believe me, it worked - I rolled them in the aisles. If I should ever die, god forbid, I hope people will say, 'Kurt is up in heaven now'. That's my favourite joke."
And another line which seems to have sustained Vonnegut throughout his life. It comes from a british Army POW review which he saw as a young man:
"What I have always tried to do is look for the things that make life worth living," he says.
"In fact, you could say that my whole life has been made up of lots of minor epiphanies. Quite by chance, I was thinking of one the other day involving the British.
"During the war, my whole division was destroyed and the Germans took those of us who had survived to this prisoner-of-war camp called Stalag 4B. The camp was full of British officers, who were incredibly kind and welcoming. We were hungry and cold and filthy and they fed us and put on this play to cheer us up. The play was Cinderella, with a male Cinderella, of course. I still remember a line from it - it was one of the best things I've ever heard in my life. When the clock struck 12, Cinderella turned to the audience and said, 'Goodness me, the clock has struck! Alack a day and f--- my luck!' "
Vonnegut bursts into an even louder guffaw of wheezy laughter than before - he sounds like a starter motor churning over and over.
"Although I can't explain why exactly, that made me feel that life was worth living again. Suddenly, despite everything, human beings really seemed rather wonderful."

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Posted: Tue - February 14, 2006 at 08:58 PM        

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