Synergies, a Salute and So on

A few days ago an expat friend who lives in my building gave me a book that Tom left when he was in Alexandria a few months back. Actually the book was one I vividly remember seeing Tom locked upon, drinking intensely from the pages in a manner that is uniquely his. And so by the by this copy fell upon my way and I too have been so locked. The title reads "Slaughterhouse Five; or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., a Fourth-Generation German-American Now Living in Easy Circumstances on Cape Cod (and Smoking Too Much) Who, as an American Infantry Scout Hors de Combat, as a Prisoner of War, Witnessed the Fire-Bombing of Dresden, Germany, the Florence of the Elbe, a Long Time Ago, and Survived to Tell the Tale: This Is a Novel Somewhat in the Telegraphic Schizophrenic Manner of Tales of the Planet Tralfamadore, Where The Flying Saucers Come From". (1969)

Possibly the best subtitle given an English text and for a book so good that Joseph Heller, author of "Catch 22", endorsed it as a damn fine absurdist/humanist war story. The Banned Book Project says it was "Banned by almost everyone at some point since its publication. Burned in Drake, N. Dak. (1973). Banned in Rochester Mich. because the novel "contains and makes references to religious matters" and thus fell within the ban of the establishment clause. Challenged at the Owensboro, Ky. high School library (1985) because of "foul language, a reference to 'Magic Fingers' attached to the protagonist's bed to help him sleep, and the sentence: 'The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty.' " Challenged, but retained on the Round Rock, Tex. Independent High School reading list (1996) after a challenge that the book was too violent."

It's beautiful and illustrative and absurd and too real and is told to the reader like some confidante, drunken uncle who knows you understand his kind of crazy. I shall not parade samples of his genius and ruin the meal - if you like wonderful things, and you do, read this book. But I digress. Whilst reading this felicitous copy I switched to a cultural landmark of our times, John Stewart's "Daily Show", and surprisingly John was interviewing this same Vonnegut, now at age 82. He looked like the confidante uncle would at his age and luckily for us his kind of crazy still had the ring of laughter, truth and vinegar to it. So synergies and salutes to this great man, who by the by falls in league with both Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell as World Federalists- ie those who advocate a democratic federal world government. Please tell these fathers of modern physics and western philosophy that they were not "in touch with reality".

"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why". - Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5