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‘Still very much alive in the past.’
Tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, who died yesterday. One of the greatest authors of the 20th century, and one of the most optimistic. I'm grateful we still have his books.
The lines that came to mind are these from ‘Slaughterhouse 5’:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And wisdom always to tell the difference.
And this: ‘One thing that Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.’
First Hunter Thompson, then Saul Bellow, then KV. Too many of my favourite authors disappearing in the last few years.
So it goes.
>>"First Hunter Thompson, then Saul Bellow, then KV. Too many of my favourite authors disappearing in the last few years."
My thoughts exactly.
Slaughterhouse 5 is a book of such towering humanity... and for some reason I hadn't realised 'Harrison Bergeron' was one of his. A friend of mine still teaches it in her Lit. class.
My shelf has an old birthday card with a Vonnegut quote on it:
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."
Man, we still need Hunter Thompson back. Who's filling these guys' shoes today, is there anyone? (Mind you, I wish Oliver Reed was still around too.)
While I'm here: I'm a huge fan! Can't wait for book 3 :)
>>"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."
'We are on this earth by chance alone, so do what you want, with regard to the consequences.'
Hmm, maybe Vonnegut's version was more snappy.
>>We still need Hunter Thompson back. Who's filling these guys' shoes today, is there anyone?
I can't think of anyone.
Terrible, isn't it? The movers and shakers of the '60s and '70s are dropping like flies and we have no one to replace them with. The problem these days is most authors are too damn scared - or concerned with commercial success. They are afraid of speaking the truth.
I could only think of Bill Hicks and he's gone, too.
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