Friday, April 13, 2007

On Vonnegut

This statement was on NewYorkTimes.com today as one of hundreds. It seems fitting and could have been written by me if you change one digit and a few historical details:

Breakfast of Champions was read by me in the mid 80’s. I was a depressed, disaffected teenager, Reagan, and his administration’s Iran-Contra scandal were in full bloom. The book gave me a wake-up call that others could see the cynical beauty that I perceived around me in the world. My teenage intellect perceived the first 20 pages as some sort of eccentric adult joke that I wasn’t in on, then suddenly I got it, and read (and re-read) the rest with growing equal levels of intimidation and admiration. I then became a rabid Vonnegut fan, and I am so sad now, to see that beautiful intellectual light having finally burned out. At least his literature will forever live on.
— Posted by Aaron Morris

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