There was the story about an unfunny shock jock saying something dumb and provoking all sorts of mock horror, apologies and professional bullying, proving again that it is still impossible to rationally discuss issues of race in this country.
There was a crazy fuck with a bunch of hollow tip bullets and no playwriting talent who killed people.
There was the constant reminder that Iraq is still the reigning champion of senseless death.
There was Sanjaya.
And somewhere in there we lost Kurt Vonnegut. He just sort of bowed out modestly amidst all the reality-tv histrionics and lunacy that comprises modern culture.
Vonnegut made writing look easy. He wrote simple sentences. Used plain language. He was one of those authors I would read as a kid and think, "I could do this."
But his type of writing is actually the hardest. You have to be dead sure about what you're saying. You can't hide behind fancy language or the endless, slogging asides that cause me to say, "get to the point, fuck!" If you're truly brilliant, you can be simple. And looking again at the headlines that have dominated the news over the past couple weeks, I'm really gonna miss simple.
1 comment:
Agreed. Vonnegut was part of a generation that we could learn from. I don't agree with the moniker of "greatest generation" but there's something to be learned from a man who survived the bombing of Dresden and then wrote some of the finest books in the English language.
His passing was quiet but maybe its fitting in a way. He was a brilliant satirist and he showed all human beings how fucked up we can be to ourselves. Dying during a week of fucked up news could have been prophetic.
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