Cat’s Cradle Curiosity
Benjamin Kunkel on Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle in today’s Guardian.
“Reading it, you want to reject Vonnegut’s pessimism as too easy and comprehensive, like the sour negativity of adolescents - always Vonnegut’s best and most devoted readers - but it’s not evident that the 21st century will grant us very strong grounds on which to do so.”
Other Splinters posts of interest:
- Kurt Vonnegut takes on semi-colons and Swedes
- A Kurt Goodbye
- Kurt words
- Other blogs blog
- Reading in 2007 - Tenuous Intent
Make A Comment: ( 2 so far )
2 Responses to “Cat’s Cradle Curiosity”
John Self
April 27th, 2008
Reading ‘Cat’s Cradle,’ I frankly DON’T want to reject Vonnegut’s pessimism. I want to embrace it. Champion it. Love it. Spoon with it.
Then again, I’m 32 years old and trying like hell to set the world’s record for the longest recorded human adolescence. So my sentiment probably says a lot more about me than it does about Vonnegut’s masterwork.
At any rate…
Time to go do a gravity bong and play some more Wii.
Brad Listi
May 11th, 2008
The Kunkel piece is the introduction of the new Penguin Modern Classics edition, which I’ve just read. (So be warned that the link you’ve posted may expire soon, ‘for copyright reasons’.) I thought Kunkel’s intro added nothing to the book, though the novel itself remains as essential as when I first read it - as, yes, an adolescent.