Friday, July 11, 2003
(6:49 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
I'm a Vonnegut fan -- love me
You know what's really creative? Being a fan of Kurt Vonnegut! That's right -- Kurt Vonnegut, the king of books that are short and easy to read. Many times, he even includes his own illustrations. Collect them all, then rank them! Or you could always rank them! Or what the hell -- you could go ahead and rank them. Failing that, you could draw up a list ranking his novels. Another possibility would be to make a guide for people who want to get into Vonnegut, because even though it's impossible to fire a shotgun in most urban areas without hitting a Vonnegut fan, we apparently need some computer people to tell us which ones to read. Which ones to read? If you get one you don't like, you'll be done in three hours and can then start the next one. Or you could just read Slaughterhouse Five or (if you're a true believer, as opposed to an "I discovered Vonnegut through the recommended reading list for the AP Lit test" fan) Cat's Cradle. Do you like movies? Well, then you'll love Breakfast of Champions, now a major motion picture!
What am I "trying to say" here? Well, first of all, I'm "trying to say" that I am already really familiar with Vonnegut and do not need Amazon to show me five damn Vonnegut lists, four of which are "rankings," as a way to jump-start my browsing. Vonnegut is one of those authors (like C.S. Lewis) who can all too often turn into an intellectual black hole, as evidenced by the wide-ranging circle jerk of all-Vonnegut lists on Amazon. (I'm not up to the depression that would result if I did a similar experiment in C. S. Lewis -- I'm glad that I've never purchased or "browsed" any of his works.) I think that Vonnegut is great, but because of his vast popularity, his accessibility, and his "black hole"-like properties, those who advocate him are exposing themselves to the suspicion that they are lightweights -- that is, they want to look smart, and they want to think for a few seconds about edgy ideas, but they don't want to put in the work.
But yeah, I've read four of his books and loved them.
