« The Narcissist as Beast - Part II | Main | Boston Legal: The Rare Feast in a TV Fast »
April 12, 2007
Death of a Champion
My first introduction to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was in sophomore English class where I read the short story, "Harrison Bergeron". Last year on this blog I wrote an analysis of "Harrison Bergeron" that revealed its continued impact on me after some 30 years. My interest in Vonnegut led me to one of his older works, a silly science fiction novel, Sirens of Titan, about which I only recall a character or two and how much it made me laugh. Back then I also read the author’s pet work, Cat’s Cradle, along with the ubiquitous requisite Breakfast of Champions. Throughout the years of my various author kicks and subject obsessions, I have read most of Vonnegut’s works, including some of the compilation anthologies of his commencement speeches and essays; my personal favorite of the autobiographical collages is Palm Sunday. I find myself quoting Vonnegut more than any other author save Shakespeare.
Vonnegut’s voice was a mixture of Mark Twain/Frank Zappa; he combined sardonic observation with bizarre yet accessible characters. Like Twain, Vonnegut boldly criticized popular culture, politicians, and social mores, but never sunk to the nihilistic cynicism reflected in his predecessor’s final indictments. I eagerly devoured everything Vonnegut wrote. His sanity, wisdom and wit resonated with me as a Midwesterner and student of the human condition.
Because I was too young during the Watergate scandal to pay much attention to the details, Vonnegut’s novel, Jailbird, a parody loosely based on the perpetrators of the burglary, launched my personal investigation into the history of the event and led me to all sorts of interesting rabbit holes. You could say that partaking in a regular diet of Vonnegut books reinforced my skepticism and paranoia toward government institutions and not-necessarily-fictitious policies that impact individual rights. Needless to say, Vonnegut was a harsh critic of the Bush administration and spent his last days grieving our current state of affairs.
I not only grieve the current state of affairs, but Vonnegut’s passing. He was a great man who led a fascinating and honorable life, albeit humble and unassuming. His novels should remain required reading for high school students. However, if you skipped that class as a sophomore, it’s not too late to feast upon the banquet that is Vonnegut’s legacy. Your world will never be the same.
Farewell, sweet Prince, the hope of chivalry!
Shakespeare, Edward III
Comments
I know I'm a big slacker, but Kurt Vonnegut would have loved this editorial by Lee Iacocca:
http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=wherehavealltheleadersgone
A must-read.
Posted by: loretta | April 13, 2007 07:47 PM
Thank you much for the piece by Lee Iacocca.
I not only read it, I sent it to everybody in my addy book.
I then made a copy of the entire piece to send to those w/out PC's.
It is a MUST read!
I also ordered the book.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 15, 2007 01:08 AM
Wow! He can sure get a rant on, can't he!?
I shall have to get the book, also.
I look forward to your piece on Vonnegut. One of my favourite writers.
Posted by: vero | April 15, 2007 05:06 AM
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_final_act_of_submission/
Another rant from Scott Ritter. Very powerful.
Posted by: loretta | April 15, 2007 12:50 PM
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/89728-0/
Posted by: Anonymous | April 15, 2007 05:14 PM
Interesting Russian take on current matters above.
'If i should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say "Kurt is up in Heaven now." That's my favourite joke.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2057284,00.html
Posted by: Anonymous | April 16, 2007 11:11 PM
The observer article was my link, btw.
Happy New Moon tomorrow morning, everybody!
Posted by: Astrolger | April 16, 2007 11:14 PM
Thanks for that wonderful eulogy/critique of Vonnegut. It brought tears to my eyes.
I am so sad that he's gone. I must write something today. I just haven't had the heart to do it. Where do I begin? He was one of the most influential writers of my humble little literary existence.
**sigh** Instead of being all literary and critique-y about him, I will tell you why I loved him.
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 07:56 AM
FWIW, I finally wrote my tribute above.
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 02:57 PM
Vonnegut would be amused by these two TRUE FACTS:
1. A robin persistently hurls himself against the glass windows in my living room at least twenty times each day.
Also, he attacks the side mirrors of any car parked in the driveway. Guests at my home have to cover their mirrors with paper bags
or suffer the consequences: door panels covered with robin droppings. The robin, or its twin, regularly attacked my neighbor's windows and car mirrors, then, inexplicably,
moved its operations to my house. I speculate that the robin is either incensed or attracted by its reflection in the glass. Is the robin narcissistic?
2. A song, reputed to be a great favorite of Mr. Vonnegut, keeps running through my head. Time has erased the title from my memory but it contains this line: "I can call you Betty ,and Betty, when you call me, you can call me Al." Birds in the yard...Betty and Al...what can these things mean? Are they substantial? Are they important? Are they merely bright tidings that the internet sometimes sends to hover over our inboxes, sparkle for a moment, then disappear in blaze of sparks.
Just thought you should know these things. All is well with me;I hope that all is well for you.
P.S. Love the striped shirt.
Posted by: partoftheproblem | April 17, 2007 03:31 PM
That song would be from Paul Simon, "You Can Be My Bodyguard."
I had a very good friend once upon a time who called me Betty and I called him Al. We were penpals for years.
I dunno if he read Vonnegut, but he probably did.
I'll have to ask him.
He was also fascinated with birds and wrote to me about his observations of them. Interesting coincidence, eh?
As far as the robins, I doubt it's narcissism - but who knows?
I had a couple of parkeets once - Piccolo and Oboe - and they loved looking in the mirror, too.
I thought it was because they fancied that another bird was there.
Who knows.
The birds have never told me what they think.
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 04:04 PM
Oops. My mistake. The title of the song is, "You can call me Al," and it's no surprise why Vonnegut liked it:
A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo-opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Don't want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard
Bonedigger Bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away my well-lit door
Mr. Beerbelly Beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore
If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And wo my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family
What if I die here
Who'll be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone Gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All alone alone
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations
If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al
A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen! and Hallelujah!
If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 04:08 PM
Paul Simon is a great poet. I see smatterlings of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and T.S. Eliot in there, don't you?
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 04:14 PM
Checking in, after a long absence (Absynth?). Need to leave Loretta this link to the two plays, written by Cho Seung-Hui. Please delete this post if it is a bit out of place, here. Best regards to all. http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/
Posted by: Dingbat Ann | April 17, 2007 04:18 PM
Wow. Long time no see, Ann. Really long time.
Thanks for the link. I will read the plays and see what I think.
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 04:22 PM
Allways good to read your work, Loretta.
Posted by: Dingbat Ann | April 17, 2007 04:26 PM
Well, I just read the "McBeef" play and it's lacking in originality, character development, realistic dialogue, humor, satire, or any real message.
It's like the pastiche of dialogue overheard from a bad movie.
Plus, it's a little rip-off of Hamlet.
But, I don't see any alarms going off.
Next....
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 04:32 PM
Ok, and the "Mr. Brownstone" one is even less disturbing and less interesting.
I think the former classmate's opinion is more relevant than the plays.
I probably would have graded those a C, maybe. The second one was a little better written than the first. As it were.
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 04:38 PM
Agreed. The "plays" are pretty lame, as content goes. However, I am wondering if their value, is simply a little snapshot, of the images that played through Cho's mind. Wondering if Mr. McBeef has some underpinnings of fact. In within Cho's own life, or within his family. I am getting the sense that he felt somewhat inferior that he was an English major. Example: He reportedly told his room mates, that he was a "business major". One of his room mates was a first year engineering student. I will be interested to know if Cho tried to make it in the engineering department, and couldn't. Declared a major that was less impacted and less competitive. His name sign on the door, makes me wonder if he was quitely taunted; something that pushed a very sick person - over the edge. His name on the door, reads "Seung Ho"; and not Seung-Hui. Uh huh.
Posted by: Dingbat Ann | April 17, 2007 04:58 PM
Gotta think that he might have been in academic trouble, if these plays are an example of his work. Over-the-top things happen around finals time when someone is flunking his major subject.
Posted by: Captain Joe | April 17, 2007 05:31 PM
Ismail ax, or more correctly Ismail's axe, (after all he was a failing English major), refers to a Koran passage. I gotta think that this guy was was on a jihad.
Posted by: Captain Joe | April 17, 2007 06:12 PM
Well, we don't have any evidence so far of any 'jihad,' nor do we have evidence that he was mind controlled, as I speculate. We really don't know much at all.
Maybe more information about his motives and personality will emerge. Until then, it's just guess-work.
Posted by: loretta | April 17, 2007 07:39 PM
Great on Vonnegut!
I miss him already.
Good to see you, Ann.
Didn't you predict a red herring, Loretta? Any feeling that this might be it?
Posted by: vero | April 17, 2007 08:15 PM
About the Iacocca editorial and a conversation between Senator Joe Biden and George Bush in the Oval Office.
Outlining his concerns to the President—the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields. "The President was serene," Joe recalled. "He told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well. 'Mr. President,' I finally said, 'how can you be so sure when you don't yet know all the facts?'" Bush then reached over and put a steadying hand on Joe's shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good Golly, he's doing a heck of a job with those great instincts so far, isn't he?
I haven't had a chance to read the two plays by Cho Seung-Hui.
It's pretty unnerving that a teacher went to the police about his disturbing behavior and was turned away.
Posted by: Nadine | April 17, 2007 09:35 PM
She also went to the administration ie probably her department head and was also ignored and told she would have to solve it on her own. She taught him for a year one on one to keep him out of the classroom setting. People say teachers, even prof's don't earn their pay.
I read the plays and found them disturbing on several levels. He was a very immature 23; he was a lame English major; he was a loner; his dark thoughts and written representation exhibited a disturbed mind. Put em all together, you've got shooter. The message he left mentioned mysogyny and loathing for the rich. Psychosis is putting it mildly. I would have graded those playlets C- to D+. He did not use English. It broke into South Korean Koranglish. How did he get to be a senior in a prestigious university? Mystery # 5987849.
I watch the service today and was very impressed except with numbnutz who had no business being there. The students and professors were eloguent. The VT prez was a little too sermonish in my opinion. All in all it is a heart-breaking and devastating event. Those people are still in deep shock. Lord help them.
Posted by: moi | April 17, 2007 10:29 PM
I thought the Imam and Buddhist clergy were a bit much.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 17, 2007 10:51 PM
I believe that he was failing in his studies, had stopped going to some of his classes, and he realized that he would dishonor himself to his family by failing. I think that he blamed his failure on his fellow students who feared him and did not want to attend class with him. His inability to socialize is what caused his failure. He couldn't deal with the failure, hence the killings and suicide.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 17, 2007 11:51 PM
Like killing a whole slew of his fellow student doesn't constitute dishonour! I don't think any sort of logic enters into it, no matter how twisted.
Posted by: vero | April 18, 2007 12:20 AM
Right on Vero. He was way out of range of the dishonour. He was post toatis and rice crispies and way over that edge of pshycotickkkk. I have no idea about hid family, apparently thay have skipped the county as to media. It is not the fault of anyone but his ohmself. He was construed and mixcornstrued and effed up to the first degree.
Posted by: moi | April 18, 2007 02:58 AM
"I thought the Imam and Buddhist clergy were a bit much."
Not one bit anonymous.
Get over yourself and look to the large picture and fuggid about the Xtian presence. Fer Kuripes sapes. phootey. or say who you are.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 18, 2007 03:02 AM
If the staff of the English Department was so freaked out by the guy, why didn’t they just give him a failing grade? His work and participation in the class certainly would earn an F from all the reports I’ve heard. He had even stopped going to some of his classes. Sounds like an F to me. Oh, I forgot. They don’t fail paying students anymore. Don’t want to hurt the bottom line.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 18, 2007 11:16 AM
New entry ^^^^. I'm in writing mode today.
Posted by: loretta | April 18, 2007 11:33 AM